Salman Rushdie

Born on June 19, 1947 in Mumbai, Salman Rushdie, heated up the headlines when his second novel Midnight's Children (1981), won the coveted Booker Prize. However, Rushdie is more known for his novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), which provoked violent reactions from the Muslim community around the world.

Educated in Mumbai and England, Rushdie joined an advertising firm initially. His first novel was Grimus which did not make any significant impact. However, his next novel, Midnight's Children, got the cash registers ringing. Along with the Booker Prize, this book won him the 'Booker of Bookers' prize in 1993 -Rushdie based his next work The Jaguar Smile, on his visit to Nicaragua. Some of his other famous works include :

The Moor's Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Shalimar the Clown.

Rushdie has influenced an entire generation of 'Indo-Anglian' writers. He has won many awards for his works like the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Fiction), Arts Council Writers' Award, English-Speaking Union Award, Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, Whitbread Novel Award , Writers' Guild Award (Children's Book) the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature and many others. He has been a advocated of free speech and expression and is involved with various social causes.

Get to know about some more Indian Writers and Poets :
Raja Rao Amitav Ghosh Mulk Raj Anand Vikram Chandra R.K. Narayan Jhumpa Lahiri Arundhati Roy Salman Rushdie Kiran Desai Vikram Seth V.S. Naipaul Khushwant Singh Munshi Premchand Bankim Chandra Chatterjee Mahadevi Verma