Sir Salman Rushdie is an award-winning British Indian writer. His novels, which have been translated into over forty languages, include Booker Prize winning Midnight’s Children, Grimus, Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, and Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights. Rushdie has also written a collection of short stories, multiple works of non-fiction, and adapted Midnight’s Children for the stage. For his work, Rushdie has received numerous honors and awards, including two Whitbread Prizes for Best Novel, the Writers’ Guild Award, the James Tait Black Prize, the European Union’s Aristeion Prize for Literature, Author of the Year Prizes in both Britain and Germany, the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature, the Premio Grinzane Cavour in Italy, the Crossword Book Award in India, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, the London International Writers’ Award, the James Joyce award of University College Dublin, the St Louis Literary Prize, the Carl Sandburg Prize of the Chicago Public Library, and a U.S. National Arts Award.

Rushdie was named a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, received a Knighthood from the Queen of England for his contributions to literature, was named a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was named a Library Lion of the New York Public Library. He has also received the Freedom of the City in Mexico City, Strasbourg and El Paso, and the Edgerton Prize of the American Civil Liberties Union. He holds the rank of Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres – France’s highest artistic honor. Rushdie has served as President of PEN American Center, and for ten years served as the Chairman of the PEN World Voices International Literary Festival, which he helped to create.

Rushdie holds honorary doctorates and fellowships at six European and six American universities, is an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at M.I.T, and University Distinguished Professor at Emory University. Rushdie is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.

Rushdie returned to Dartmouth after delivering a 2015 lecture on the importance of what he called “wonder tales” and visiting with English students to engage with them about his craft.