Editing Salman Rushdie (section)

==Career==
===Copywriter===
Rushdie worked as a [[copywriter]] for the advertising agency [[Ogilvy & Mather]], where he came up with "irresistibubble" for [[Aero (chocolate)|Aero]] and "Naughty but Nice" for cream cakes, and for the agency Ayer Barker (until 1982), for whom he wrote the line "That'll do nicely" for [[American Express]].<ref name=southasiandiaspora>Ravikrishnan, Ashutosh. [http://southasiandiaspora.org/salman-rushdie-midnights-child/ Salman Rushdie's Midnight Child] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130415232311/http://southasiandiaspora.org/salman-rushdie-midnights-child/ |date=15 April 2013 }}. South Asian Diaspora. 25 July 2012.</ref> Collaborating with musician [[Ronnie Bond]], Rushdie wrote the words for an advertising record on behalf of the now defunct [[Burnley Building Society]] that was recorded at [[Good Earth Studios]], London. The song was called "The Best Dreams" and was sung by [[George Chandler]].<ref name="After the Satanic Verses, the romantic lyrics - Glaister">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/22/danglaister|title=After the Satanic Verses, the romantic lyrics|first=Dan|last=Glaister|date=22 January 1999|access-date=24 December 2018|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224121930/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/22/danglaister|url-status=live}}</ref> It was while at Ogilvy that Rushdie wrote ''Midnight's Children'', before becoming a full-time writer.<ref>"[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth87 Salman Rushdie biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501041146/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth87 |date=1 May 2007 }}", 2004, British Council. Retrieved 20 January 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/negative-because-there-is-little-positive-to-say-1.417082|title=Negative because there is little positive to say|newspaper=The Herald|location=Glasgow|first=George|last=Birrell|date=18 January 1997|access-date=9 December 2010|archive-date=16 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616062041/http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/negative-because-there-is-little-positive-to-say-1.417082|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article699728.ece "The birth pangs of Midnight's Children"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706152327/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/ |date=6 July 2022 }}, ''TLS'', 1 April 2006.</ref> Rushdie was a personal friend of [[Angela Carter]]'s, calling her "the first great writer I ever met".<ref>{{cite news| last=Rushdie| first=Salman|date=March 8, 1992| title=Angela Carter, 1940–92: A Very Good Wizard, a Very Dear Friend| work=The New York Times| url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/27/specials/carter-rushdie.html?_r=1}}</ref><ref name="Burning Your Boats - Carter">{{cite web | last=Rushdie | first=Salman | type=Introduction | title=Full text of "Burning Your Boats The Collected Short Stories Angela Carter" | website=Internet Archive | date=2023-03-25 | url=https://archive.org/stream/BurningYourBoatsTheCollectedShortStoriesAngelaCarter/Burning+Your+Boats_+The+Collected+Short+Stories+of+Angela+Carter_djvu.txt | access-date=2024-03-04}}</ref>

===Literary works===
Rushdie’s works are often categorized as [[Postmodernism|postmodern]], particularly within the tradition of [[Magical realism|Magic Realism]]. However, they also reveal early signs of a literary and cultural shift beyond postmodernism. In our contemporary world – saturated with reality TV, talk shows and other forms of pure entertainment – apathy, passivity and inaction have become defining features. [[Jeffrey T. Nealon]] identifies this prevailing sense of disengagement as a hallmark of the post-postmodern condition, which is sometimes referred to as [[metamodernism]]: “we post-postmodern capitalists are trained by our media masters to watch rather than act, consume rather than do.”<ref>[[Jeffrey T. Nealon|Nealon, Jeffrey T.]] (2015). “Post-Postmodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Just-In-Time Capitalism,” ''Supplanting the Postmodern: An Anthology of Writings on the Arts and Culture of the Early 21st Century'', New York and London: Bloomsbury, p. 88</ref> The overt political tensions of the Cold War era have been replaced by a more insidious, media-driven culture of distraction and spectacle. In response, Rushdie's works blend fantasy with realism to jolt readers out of this stupor, challenging delusions and encouraging renewed critical awareness.  

==== Early works and literary breakthrough, 1975–1987 ====
Rushdie's debut, the science fiction tale ''[[Grimus]]'' (1975), was generally ignored by the public and literary critics. His next novel, ''[[Midnight's Children]]'' (1981), put him on the map. It follows the life of Saleem Sinai, born at the stroke of midnight as India gained its independence, who is endowed with special powers and a connection to other children born at the [[History of the Republic of India|birth of the modern nation of India]]. Sinai has been compared to Rushdie.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/One_more_bouquet_for_Saleem_Sinai/articleshow/3254751.cms|title=One more bouquet for Saleem Sinai|first=Nina|last=Martyris|newspaper=The Times of India|date=20 July 2008|quote=Saleem is not Salman (although he marries a Padma) and Saleem's grandfather Dr Aadam Aziz is not him either, but there is a touching prescience at work here. In the opening pages of Midnight's Children, Dr Aziz while bending down on his prayer mat, bumps his nose on a hard tussock of earth. His nose bleeds and his eyes water and he decides then and there that never again will he bow before God or man. "This decision, however, made a hole in him, a vacancy in a vital inner chamber, leaving him vulnerable to women and history." Battered by a fatwa and one femme fatale too many, Salman would have some understanding of this.|access-date=7 November 2008|archive-date=12 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112235447/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/One_more_bouquet_for_Saleem_Sinai/articleshow/3254751.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> However, Rushdie refuted the idea of having written any of his characters as autobiographical, stating, "People assume that because certain things in the character are drawn from your own experience, it just becomes you. In that sense, I've never felt that I've written an autobiographical character."<ref name=Meer>{{cite journal|last1=Meer|first1=Ameena|title=Interview: Salman Rushdie|journal=[[Bomb (magazine)|Bomb]]|date=1989|volume=27|issue=Spring|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/1199/|access-date=22 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111324/http://bombmagazine.org/article/1199/|archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> Rushdie writes of his "debt to the oral narrative traditions of India and also to the great novelists [[Jane Austen]] and [[Charles Dickens]]—Austen for her portraits of brilliant women caged by the social convention of their time, women whose Indian counterparts I knew well; Dickens for his great, rotting, Bombay-like city, and his ability to root his larger-than-life characters and surrealist imagery in a sharply observed, almost hyperrealistic background."<ref>{{cite book| last=Rushdie| first=Salman| title=Midnight's Children| page=xi}}</ref>

Shortly after its publication, [[V. S. Pritchett]] wrote: "In Salman Rushdie, the author of ''Midnight's Children'', India has produced a glittering novelist—one with startling imaginative and intellectual resources, a master of perpetual storytelling. Like [[Gabriel García Marquez|García Marquez]] in ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'', he weaves a whole people's capacity for carrying its inherited myths—and new ones that it goes on generating—into a kind of magic carpet. The human swarm swarms in every man and woman as they make their bid for life and vanish into the passion or hallucination that hangs about them like the smell of India itself. Yet at the same time there are strange Western echoes, of the irony of [[Laurence Sterne|Sterne]] in ''[[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman|Tristram Shandy]]''—that early nonlinear writer—in Rushdie's readiness to tease by breaking off or digressing at the gravest moments. This is very odd in an Indian novel! The book is really about the mystery of being born and the puzzle of who one is."<ref>{{cite magazine| first=V. S. |last=Pritchett| magazine=[[The New Yorker]]| title=Salman Rushdie's Fantastical Tour de Force| date=July 19, 1981| url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1981/07/27/two-novels}}</ref> ''Midnight's Children'' won the 1981 [[Booker Prize]] and, in 1993 and 2008, the [[The Best of the Booker|Best of the Bookers]] and Booker of Bookers special prizes.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1099 |title = Readers across the world agree that Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is the Best of the Booker. |year = 2008 |access-date = 10 July 2008 |publisher = Man Booker Prizes |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081011052625/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1099 |archive-date = 11 October 2008 |df = dmy-all}}</ref>

After ''Midnight's Children'', Rushdie depicted the political turmoil in [[Pakistan]] with ''[[Shame (Rushdie novel)|Shame]]'' (1983), basing his characters on [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] and General [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq]]. ''Shame'' won France's ''[[Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger]]'' (Best Foreign Book) and was a close runner-up for the Booker Prize. Both these works of [[postcolonial literature]] are characterised by a style of [[magic realism]] and the immigrant outlook that Rushdie is very conscious of as a member of the [[Kashmiri diaspora]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 June 2011 |title=Rushdie Special |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/rushdie-special/cid/1663176 |access-date=15 June 2024 |website=The Telegraph Online}}</ref>

Rushdie wrote a non-fiction book about [[Nicaragua]] in 1987 called ''[[The Jaguar Smile]]''. This book has a political focus and is based on his first-hand experiences and research at the scene of [[Sandinista]] political experiments. He became interested in Nicaragua after he had been a neighbour of [[Hope Portocarrero|Madame Somoza]], wife of the former Nicaraguan dictator, and his son Zafar was born around the time of the Nicaraguan revolution.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIllAAAAIBAJ&dq=salman+rushdie+hope+somoza&pg=PA20&article_id=246,2829822|title=Salman Rushdie in Nicaragua: A rendezvous with revolution|first=Seetha|last=Kumar|work=The Indian Express|date=15 February 1987|access-date=12 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812180433/https://books.google.com/books?id=KIllAAAAIBAJ&dq=salman+rushdie+hope+somoza&pg=PA20&article_id=246,2829822|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== ''The Satanic Verses'' and ''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'', 1988–1990 ====
His most controversial work, ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'', was published in 1988 and won the [[Whitbread Award]].<ref>{{cite news| title=Controversial Novel Wins Whitbread Literary Prize| date=November 18, 1988| work=Deseret News}}</ref> It was followed by ''[[Haroun and the Sea of Stories]]'' (1990). Written in the shadow of the fatwa, it is about the magic of story-telling and an allegorical defence of the power of stories over silence.<ref name="BritshC" />

==== Further works, 1990s–2000s ====
In 1990, Rushdie reviewed [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''[[Vineland]]'' in ''[[The New York Times]]'', and offered some droll musings on the author's reclusiveness: "So he wants a private life and no photographs and nobody to know his home address. I can dig it, I can relate to that (but, like, he should try it when it's compulsory instead of a free-choice option)."<ref>{{Cite news| first=Salman |last=Rushdie |date=January 14, 1990 |title=Still Crazy After All These Years |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-vineland.html |access-date=January 5, 2023 |archive-date=November 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101125235/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-vineland.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Rushdie recalls: "I was able to meet the famously invisible man. I had dinner with him at [[Sonny Mehta]]'s apartment in [[Manhattan]] and found him very satisfyingly Pynchonesque. At the end of dinner I thought, well, now we're friends, and maybe we'll see each other from time to time. He never called again."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/26/salman-rushdie-the-books-that-changed-me| title=Books that made me {{!}} Salman Rushdie: 'I couldn't finish Middlemarch. I know, I know. I'll try again'|first=Salman|last=Rushdie| date=January 26, 2018| work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

Rushdie has published many short stories, including those collected in ''[[East, West]]'' (1994). His 1995 novel ''[[The Moor's Last Sigh]]'', a family saga spanning some 100 years of India's history, won the [[Whitbread Award]].<ref>{{cite news| work=[[Publishers Weekly]]| title=The Moor's Last Sigh| url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780679744665|date=13 January 1997}}</ref> ''[[The Ground Beneath Her Feet]]'' (1999) is a riff on the myth of [[Orpheus and Eurydice]], casting [[Orpheus]] and [[Eurydice]] as [[rock music|rock]] stars.<ref>[https://www.salmanrushdie.com/the-ground-beneath-her-feet/ "The Ground Beneath her Feet"]  at Salman Rushdie.com. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011193504/https://www.salmanrushdie.com/the-ground-beneath-er-feet/ |date=11 October 2019 }}.</ref> The book features many original song lyrics; one was the basis for the [[U2]] song "[[The Ground Beneath Her Feet (song)|The Ground Beneath Her Feet]]". Rushdie is credited as the lyricist.<ref name="After the Satanic Verses, the romantic lyrics - Glaister" />

[[File:Salman-Rushdie-1.jpg|thumb|upright|Rushdie presenting his 2005 novel ''[[Shalimar the Clown]]'']]

Following ''[[Fury (Rushdie novel)|Fury]]'' (2001), set mainly in New York and avoiding the previous sprawling narrative style that spans generations, periods and places, Rushdie's novel ''[[Shalimar the Clown]]'' (2005), a story about love and betrayal set in [[Kashmir]] and [[Los Angeles]], was hailed as a return to form by a number of critics.<ref name="BritshC" />

In his 2002 non-fiction collection ''Step Across This Line'', he professes his admiration for [[Italo Calvino]] and Pynchon, among others. His early influences included [[Jorge Luis Borges]], [[Mikhail Bulgakov]], [[Lewis Carroll]] and [[Günter Grass]]. When asked who his favorite novelist is, he says: "There are days when it's [[Kafka]], in whose world we all live; others when it's [[Dickens]], for the sheer fecundity of his imagination and the beauty of his prose. But it's probably [[James Joyce|Joyce]] on more days than anyone else."<ref name=":ByTheBook"/>

2008 saw the publication of ''[[The Enchantress of Florence]]'', one of Rushdie's most challenging works that focuses on the past. It tells the story of a European's visit to [[Akbar]]'s court, and his revelation that he is a lost relative of the [[Mughal empire|Mughal]] emperor. The novel was praised by [[Ursula Le Guin]] in a review in ''[[The Guardian]]'' as a "sumptuous mixture of history with fable".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/29/fiction.salmanrushdie|title=The real uses of enchantment|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Ursula K |last=Le Guin|date=29 March 2008|access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref> ''[[Luka and the Fire of Life]]'', a sequel to ''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'', was published in November 2010 to critical acclaim.<ref name="BritshC" /> Earlier that year, he announced that he was writing his memoir, ''[[Joseph Anton: A Memoir]]'', which was published in September 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/12/salman-rushdie-fatwa-memoir|title=Salman Rushdie at work on fatwa memoir|first=Benedicte|last=Page|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 October 2010|access-date=14 September 2012|archive-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415202944/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/12/salman-rushdie-fatwa-memoir|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2012, Rushdie became one of the first major authors to embrace [[Booktrack]] (a company that synchronises ebooks with customised soundtracks), when he published his short story "[[In the South (short story)|In the South]]" on the platform.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://booktrack.serveronline.net/blog/?p=164|title=Salman Rushdie Collaborates With Booktrack and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Booktrack Launches A New E-reader Platform|publisher=Booktrack|access-date=2 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404115658/http://booktrack.serveronline.net/blog/?p=164|archive-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>

====Later works, novels, and essays, 2015–2024====
2015 saw the publication of ''[[Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights]]'', a modern take on the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''. Based on the conflict of scholar [[Ibn Rushd]] (from whom Rushdie's family name derives), Rushdie explores themes of [[transnationalism]] and [[cosmopolitanism]] by depicting a war of the universe with a supernatural world of [[jinns]]. [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] wrote: "Rushdie is our [[Scheherazade]], inexhaustibly enfolding story within story and unfolding tale after tale with such irrepressible delight that it comes as a shock to remember that, like her, he has lived the life of a storyteller in immediate peril. Scheherazade told her 1,001 tales to put off a stupid, cruel threat of death; Rushdie found himself under similar threat for telling an unwelcome tale. So far, like her, he has succeeded in escaping. May he continue to do so."<ref name="LeGuin 2015 Rushdie ">{{cite news | first=Ursula K. |last=Le Guin | title=Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty‑Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie review – a modern Arabian Nights | newspaper=The Guardian | date=2015-09-04 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/04/two-years-eight-months-and-twenty-eight-nights-salman-rushdie-review | access-date=2024-03-04}}</ref>

In 2017, ''[[The Golden House (novel)|The Golden House]]'', a satirical novel set in contemporary America, was published. 2019 saw the publication of ''[[Quichotte (novel)|Quichotte]]'', a modern retelling of ''[[Don Quixote]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3023936/salman-rushdies-quichotte-brings-cervantes-epic-don |title=Salman Rushdie's Quichotte brings Cervantes' epic Don Quixote into the modern age |last=Kidd |first=James |date=24 August 2019 |website=[[South China Morning Post]] |access-date=22 August 2022 |archive-date=17 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817181154/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3023936/salman-rushdies-quichotte-brings-cervantes-epic-don |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021 ''[[Languages of Truth]]'', a collection of essays written between 2003 and 2020, was published.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616882/languages-of-truth-by-salman-rushdie/ |title=Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie |publisher=Penguin Random House |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008100922/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616882/languages-of-truth-by-salman-rushdie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Rushdie's fifteenth novel ''[[Victory City]]'', described as an epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, was published in February 2023.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673660/victory-city-by-salman-rushdie/ |title=Victory City by Salman Rushdie |publisher=Penguin Random House |access-date=16 November 2023 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927115649/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673660/victory-city-by-salman-rushdie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The book was Rushdie's first released work after he was [[Stabbing of Salman Rushdie|attacked and severely injured]] as he was about to give a public lecture in [[New York (state)|New York]] in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=Fiona |date=8 February 2023 |title=Salman Rushdie's new novel is a tale of power, exile and steely defiance |url=https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/salman-rushdie-s-new-novel-is-a-tale-of-power-exile-and-steely-defiance-20230206-p5ci6z.html |access-date=14 February 2023 |website=The Age |language=en |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213215519/https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/salman-rushdie-s-new-novel-is-a-tale-of-power-exile-and-steely-defiance-20230206-p5ci6z.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In April 2024, his autobiographical book ''[[Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder]]'', in which Rushdie writes about the attack and his recovery, was published.<ref name="GuardApr24Blake">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/15/knife-by-salman-rushdie-review-a-story-of-hatred-defeated-by-love|title=Knife by Salman Rushdie review – a story of hatred defeated by love|last=Morrison|first=Blake|author-link=Blake Morrison|date=15 April 2024|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=16 April 2024}}</ref> It was longlisted for the 2024 [[National Book Award for Nonfiction]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/2024-national-book-awards-longlist |access-date=13 September 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=12 September 2024}}</ref>

===Critical reception===
Rushdie has had a string of commercially successful and critically acclaimed novels. His works have been shortlisted for the [[Booker Prize]] five times, in 1981 for ''[[Midnight's Children]]'', 1983 for [[Shame (Rushdie novel)|''Shame'']], 1988 for ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'', 1995 for ''[[The Moor's Last Sigh]]'', and in 2019 for [[Quichotte (novel)|''Quichotte'']].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2019/09/04/138599/booker-prize-2019-shortlist-announced/|title=Booker Prize 2019 shortlist announced|date=4 September 2019|website=Books+Publishing|language=en-AU|access-date=6 September 2019|archive-date=6 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906071059/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2019/09/04/138599/booker-prize-2019-shortlist-announced/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1981, he was awarded the prize.<ref name="Children">{{cite news|last1=Jordison|first1=Sam|title=Midnight's Children is the right winner|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/jul/10/bestofbooker|work=The Guardian|date=10 July 2008|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404015749/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/jul/10/bestofbooker|url-status=live}}</ref> His 2005 novel ''[[Shalimar the Clown]]'' received the prestigious [[Hutch Crossword Book Award]], and, in the UK, was a finalist for the [[Whitbread Book Awards]]. It was shortlisted for the 2007 [[International Dublin Literary Award]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2007/shortlist.htm | title=The 2007 Shortlist | year=2007 | access-date=5 April 2007 | publisher=Dublin City Public Libraries/International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429175834/http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2007/shortlist.htm | archive-date=29 April 2007 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Rushdie's works have spawned 30 book-length studies and more than 700 articles on his writing.<ref name="BritshC" /> He is frequently mentioned a favourite to win the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/04/salman-rushdie-among-favourites-for-this-years-nobel-prize-for-literature |title=Salman Rushdie among favourites for this year's Nobel prize for literature |newspaper=The Guardian|first=Sarah|last=Shaffi |date=4 October 2022 |access-date=13 November 2022 |archive-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113121554/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/04/salman-rushdie-among-favourites-for-this-years-nobel-prize-for-literature |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/its-time-for-salman-rushdies-nobel-prize |title=It's time for Salman Rushdie's Nobel prize |magazine=The New Yorker |date=5 September 2022 |access-date=13 November 2022 |archive-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113153420/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/its-time-for-salman-rushdies-nobel-prize |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Academic and other activities===
Rushdie has mentored younger Indian (and ethnic-Indian) writers, influenced an entire generation of [[Indo-Anglian]] writers, and is an influential writer in [[postcolonial literature]] in general.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html |title=Demonizing Discourse in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses |first=Brian|last=Finney |date=1998 |website=[[California State University, Long Beach]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000829042338/http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html |archive-date=29 August 2000}}</ref> He opposed the British government's introduction of the [[Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006|''Racial and Religious Hatred Act'']], something he writes about in his contribution to ''Free Expression Is No Offence'', a collection of essays by several writers, published by [[Penguin Group|Penguin]] in November 2005.

[[File:Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie.jpg|thumb|left|Salman Rushdie having a discussion with [[Emory University]] students]]Rushdie was the President of [[PEN American Center]] from 2004 to 2006 and founder of the [[PEN World Voices]] Festival.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rohter|first=Larry|author-link=Larry Rohter|date=7 May 2012|title=Rushdie Brings PEN Festival to Close|work=The New York Times|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/rushdie-brings-pen-festival-to-close/|access-date=6 August 2012|archive-date=16 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616144053/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/rushdie-brings-pen-festival-to-close/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2007, he began a five-year term as Distinguished Writer in Residence at [[Emory University]] in [[Atlanta]], Georgia, where he has also deposited his archives. In May 2008, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]].<ref>[http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2.php Academicians Database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504085720/http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2.php|date=4 May 2012}}, American Academy of Arts and Letters. Retrieved 26 March 2012.</ref> In 2014, he taught a seminar on British Literature and served as the 2015 keynote speaker<ref>{{cite web|date=6 October 2006|title=Salman Rushdie to Teach and Place His Archive at Emory University|url=http://news.emory.edu/Releases/RushdieProfessorship1160159900.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206005645/http://news.emory.edu/Releases/RushdieProfessorship1160159900.html|archive-date=6 December 2006|access-date=26 March 2012|publisher=Emory University Office of Media Relations}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/er_commencement_rushdie_interview/campus.html|first=Kimber|last=Williams|website=Emory Report|title=Rushdie reflects on more than a decade of Emory experiences|date=7 May 2015|access-date=22 October 2019|archive-date=22 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022211650/https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/er_commencement_rushdie_interview/campus.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In September 2015, he joined the [[New York University]] Journalism Faculty as a Distinguished Writer in Residence.<ref>{{cite web|date=5 March 2015|title=New Distinguished Writer in Residence: Salman Rushdie|url=https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/news-post/2015/03/05/new-distinguished-writer-in-residence-salman-rushdie/|access-date=24 December 2018|website=NYU Journalism|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224121916/https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/news-post/2015/03/05/new-distinguished-writer-in-residence-salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rushdie is a member of the advisory board of [[The Lunchbox Fund]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelunchboxfund.org/|title=The Lunchbox Fund|website=thelunchboxfund.org|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906163434/https://www.thelunchboxfund.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> a non-profit organisation that provides daily meals to students of township schools in [[Soweto]] of South Africa. He is a member of the advisory board of the [[Secular Coalition for America]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://secular.org/profile/salman-rushdie/|title=Salman Rushdie|website=Secular Coalition for America|access-date=31 October 2021|archive-date=31 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031111921/https://secular.org/profile/salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref> an advocacy group representing the interests of atheistic and humanistic Americans in Washington, D.C., and a patron of [[Humanists UK]] (formerly the British Humanist Association). He is a laureate of the [[International Academy of Humanism]].<ref name="bha2017">{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie Author and Patron of the BHA|url=https://humanism.org.uk/about/our-people/patrons/Salman-Rushdie/|access-date=7 March 2017|website=British Humanist Association|archive-date=8 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308044337/https://humanism.org.uk/about/our-people/patrons/Salman-Rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2010 he became a founding patron of [[Ralston College]], a new liberal arts college that has adopted as its motto a Latin translation of a phrase ("free speech is life itself") from an address he gave at [[Columbia University]] in 1991 to mark the 200th anniversary of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Collegium Ralstonianum apud Savannenses – Home|url=http://www.ralston.ac|access-date=11 November 2012|publisher=Ralston.ac|archive-date=16 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416012053/https://www.ralston.ac/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Film and television===
[[File:9.21.14WritersLifePanelByLuigiNovi18.jpg|thumb|Rushdie, right, with writers [[Catherine Lacey (author)|Catherine Lacey]] and [[Siri Hustvedt]] at the 2014 [[Brooklyn Book Festival]]]]Though he enjoys writing, Rushdie says he would have become an actor if his writing career had not been successful. From early childhood, he dreamed of appearing in Hollywood films (which he later realised in his frequent cameo appearances).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salman Rushdie |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750723/ |access-date=27 August 2022 |website=IMDb |archive-date=20 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120164504/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750723/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rushdie includes fictional television and movie characters in some of his writings. He had a [[cameo appearance]] in the film ''[[Bridget Jones's Diary]]'' based on the [[Bridget Jones's Diary (novel)|book of the same name]], which is itself full of literary in-jokes. On 12 May 2006, Rushdie was a guest host on ''[[The Charlie Rose Show]]'', where he interviewed [[Indo-Canadian]] filmmaker [[Deepa Mehta]], whose 2005 film ''[[Water (2005 film)|Water]]'' faced violent protests. He appears in the role of [[Helen Hunt]]'s [[obstetrics and gynaecology|obstetrician-gynaecologist]] in the film adaptation (Hunt's directorial debut) of [[Elinor Lipman]]'s novel ''[[Then She Found Me]]''. In September 2008, and again in March 2009, he appeared as a panellist on the HBO programme ''[[Real Time with Bill Maher]]''. Rushdie has said that he was approached for a cameo in ''[[Talladega Nights]]'': "They had this idea, just one shot in which three very, very unlikely people were seen as [[NASCAR]] drivers. And I think they approached [[Julian Schnabel]], [[Lou Reed]], and me. We were all supposed to be wearing the uniforms and the helmet, walking in slow motion with the heat haze." In the end, their schedules did not allow for it.<ref>{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie: 'The curse of an interesting life'|date=27 March 2013 |url=http://the-talks.com/interviews/salman-rushdie/|publisher=The Talks|access-date=5 April 2013|archive-date=1 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401055210/http://the-talks.com/interviews/salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2009, Rushdie signed a petition in support of film director [[Roman Polanski]], calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his [[Roman Polanski sexual abuse case|1977 charge]] for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |title=Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski! |trans-title=Sign the petition for Roman Polanski! |date=10 November 2009 |website=La Règle du jeu |language=fr |access-date=29 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210829153459/https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |archive-date=29 August 2021 }}</ref>

Rushdie collaborated on the screenplay for the cinematic adaptation of his novel ''Midnight's Children'' with director [[Deepa Mehta]]. The film was also called ''[[Midnight's Children (film)|Midnight's Children]]''.<ref name=visits>{{cite news |url=http://movies.indiatimes.com/International/Rushdie-visits-Mumbai-for-Midnights-Children-film-/articleshow/5432895.cms |title=Rushdie visits Mumbai for 'Midnight's Children' film |work=The Times of India |date=11 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114151659/http://movies.indiatimes.com/International/Rushdie-visits-Mumbai-for-Midnights-Children-film-/articleshow/5432895.cms |archive-date=14 January 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Subhash K.|last=Jha |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Im-a-film-buff-Rushdie/articleshow/5436509.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811030544/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-13/news-interviews/28121143_1_deepa-mehta-bt-midnight-s-children |url-status=live |archive-date=11 August 2011 |title=I'm a film buff: Rushdie |date=13 January 2010 |work=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=13 March 2010}}</ref> [[Seema Biswas]], [[Shabana Azmi]], [[Nandita Das]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Dreaming-of-Midnight-s-Children/563437/ |title=Dreaming of Midnight's Children |work=The Indian Express |date=5 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |archive-date=8 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508024643/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Dreaming-of-Midnight-s-Children/563437/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Irrfan Khan]] participated in the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Irrfan-moves-from-Mira-Nair-to-Deepa-Mehta/H1-Article1-499416.aspx |title=Irrfan moves from Mira Nair to Deepa Mehta |work=Hindustan Times |date=20 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304213538/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Irrfan-moves-from-Mira-Nair-to-Deepa-Mehta/H1-Article1-499416.aspx |archive-date=4 March 2010 }}</ref> Production began in September 2010;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/interviewscinema/T-te-t-te-with-Deepa-Mehta/493632/H1-Article1-493584.aspx |title=Tête-à-tête with Deepa Mehta |work=Hindustan Times |date=4 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312235349/http://www.hindustantimes.com/interviewscinema/T-te-t-te-with-Deepa-Mehta/493632/H1-Article1-493584.aspx |archive-date=12 March 2010 }}</ref> the film was released in 2012.

Rushdie announced in June 2011 that he had written the first draft of a script for a new television series for the US cable network [[Showtime (TV channel)|Showtime]], a project on which he will also serve as an executive producer. The new series, to be called ''The Next People'', will be, according to Rushdie, "a sort of paranoid science-fiction series, people disappearing and being replaced by other people." The idea of a television series was suggested by his US agents, said Rushdie, who felt that television would allow him more creative control than feature film. ''The Next People'' is being made by the British film production company [[Working Title]], the firm behind projects including ''[[Four Weddings and a Funeral]]'' and ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Salman Rushdie says TV drama series have taken the place of novels|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/12/salman-rushdie-write-tv-drama|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 June 2011|access-date=11 June 2011|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|location=London|archive-date=26 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226104900/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/12/salman-rushdie-write-tv-drama|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2017, Rushdie appeared as himself in episode 3 of season 9 of ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-9|title=Curb Your Enthusiasm – Season 9|website=HBO|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-date=27 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227235450/https://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-9|url-status=live}}</ref> sharing scenes with [[Larry David]] to offer advice on how Larry should deal with the ''fatwa'' that has been ordered against him.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-salman-rushdie-inspiring-larry-davids-fatwa-1045630/ | title=Salman Rushdie on Inspiring the New Season of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' | website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] | date=4 October 2017 | access-date=12 August 2022 | archive-date=26 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126180611/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-salman-rushdie-inspiring-larry-davids-fatwa-1045630/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-larry-davids-fatwa-salman-rushdies-cameo-1049316/ | title=How 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Kept Salman Rushdie's Fatwa Cameo a Secret | website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] | date=17 October 2017 | access-date=12 August 2022 | archive-date=26 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126104733/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-larry-davids-fatwa-salman-rushdies-cameo-1049316/ | url-status=live }}</ref>