Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/06/18/A_Conversation_with_Salman_Rushdie Award-winning novelist Salman Rushdie discusses Niccolo Machiavelli, arguing that the infamous Italian political philosopher does not deserve the bad reputation he is often given by popular culture. ----- Born in Mumbai, India, Salman Rushdie is an outspoken novelist. After a decade working as an ad copywriter, Rushdie had a breakthrough with the publication of his second book, Midnight's Children. The book received critical acclaim and was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981. His latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence, about a bewitching Moghul princess and her Florentine exploits with such historical characters as Machiavelli, is due out this June - City Arts and Lectures Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-British novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), which won the Booker Prize.Much of his early fiction is set at least partly on the Indian subcontinent. His style is often classified as magical realism, while a dominant theme of his work is the story of the many connections, disruptions, and migrations between the Eastern and Western worlds. His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), led to protests from Muslims in several countries, some of which were violent. Faced with death threats and a fatwā (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, which called for him to be killed, he spent nearly a decade largely underground, appearing in public only sporadically. In June 2007, Rushdie was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to literature. In 2007, he began a five-year term as distinguished writer in residence at Emory University. FORA.tv podcasts are sponsored by Pfizer. Visit our Pfizer "Health and Wellness" channel at http://fora.tv/wellness.
