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- Salman Rushdie faced a fatwa and death threats after publishing The Satanic Verses in 1988, leading to years in hiding and attacks on his translators and publisher.
- His literary reputation was built on novels like Midnight's Children (winner of the Booker Prize) and Shame, blending history, politics, and myth.
- Rushdie became a prominent advocate for free speech, serving as president of PEN America and founding the World Voices Festival; he was knighted in 2007.
- In August 2022, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times at the Chautauqua Institution, surviving but losing sight in one eye and suffering nerve damage.