By Neha Bawa,
Copy Editor

On Wednesday, September 14, 2005, the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh played host to one of the most controversial authors that the literary world has seen in contemporary times.

Born on June 19, 1947 in Bombay (Mumbai), India, Salman Rushdie, a short, balding man with incredible wit has spent his life writing literature that has in many ways shaken the foundations of those who have read it.

Widely known for having written The Satanic Verses, Rushdie found himself in considerable trouble in 1989 with Iran�s religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, who ordered a fatwa, or a death warrant, for Rushdie�s execution.
Khomeini called the book a �blasphemous novel,� and the death warrant led to Rushdie�s exile for 9 years.

When asked about his attitude towards the death warrant, Rushdie responded lightly.

�What I didn�t like (about the fatwa) was easy. People wanted to kill me and I was against it,� said Rushdie.

Rushdie appeared in Pittsburgh to offer a reading of his latest book titled Shalimar the Clown.

The story is about an American ambassador, Maximilian Ophuls who is found murdered at his daughter�s doorstep by a man who calls himself Shalimar.

The novel is primarily set in Los Angeles and in Kashmir, India, a northern state that has been torn with political and military tensions with Pakistan since both countries gained independence in 1947.

As with every other Rushdie novel, Shalimar also brings with it a deeper message relating to world affairs and the condition of humanity at large.
�Kashmir,� said Rushdie, �(is) a place where a terrible thing has happened.�
According to Rushdie, Shalimar explores the relationship between repentance, forgiveness and reality.

Being an author who once had to seek asylum himself, Rushdie has helped establish the organization entitled Cities of Asylum that offers refuge to authors and poets under the threat of death and those who have been exiled from their home countries. City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, was formed in November, 2004 and currently provides a safe home for Chinese poet Huang Xiang.
Rushdie has been the recipient of a number of prestigious literary awards, including the Man Booker, or the �Booker of Bookers� for his novel, Midnight�s Children. The Man Booker is awarded for the best novel to win the Booker Prize in its first 25 years.

Rushdie�s other works include The Moor�s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

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