Rushdie to Receive Honorary Degree From IU

Salman Rushdie

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Sir Salman Rushdie will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during his visit to the Indiana University Bloomington campus March 29. The critically-acclaimed author will be on campus as part of the university’s semester-long "India Remixed: Global Arts and Humanities Festival." Rushdie has authored 13 novels, as well as several stories and works of nonfiction, during his more than 40-year career. His second novel, "Midnight’s Children," launched Rushdie into the international literary scene, winning the 1981 Man Booker Prize and twice winning the Best of the Bookers award.

Rushdie may be best known, however, for 1988’s "The Satanic Verses." The controversial novel, which some in the Islamic community felt included a derisive depiction of Muhammad, led to protests, public rallies and the spiritual leader of Iran issuing a fatwa on Rushdie.

Though he lived under police protection for several years because of the fatwa, Rushdie continued writing and publishing, including the children’s book "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" in 1990, "The Moor’s Last Sigh" in 1995 and "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" in 1999.

Following the degree ceremony, Rushdie will deliver a lecture titled "Wonder Tales: East Meets West." The lecture, which will include readings from his own work, examines the correspondences between the fabulist tales of the East and West, and how these stories are relevant to the modern world. The festival is the largest Indian arts and culture festival ever organized in the Midwest and includes exhibits, performances and films.