Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
Midnight's Children is a 1981 novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postcolonial, postmodern and magical realist story told by its chief protagonist, Saleem Sinai, set in the context of historical events. The style of preserving history with fictional accounts is self-reflexive.
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. He primarily works on continental philosophy and political theory, as well as film criticism and theology.
The Satanic Verses is the fourth novel of British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters. The title refers to the Satanic Verses, a group of Quranic verses about three pagan Meccan goddesses: Allāt, Al-Uzza, and Manāt. The part of the story that deals with the "satanic verses" was based on accounts from the historians al-Waqidi and al-Tabari.
The Ground Beneath Her Feet is Salman Rushdie's sixth novel. Published in 1999, it is a variation on the Orpheus/Eurydice myth, with rock music replacing Orpheus's lyre. The myth works as a red thread from which the author sometimes strays, but to which he attaches an endless series of references.
Hysterical realism is a term coined in 2000 by English critic James Wood to describe what he sees as a literary genre typified by a strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization, on the one hand, and careful, detailed investigations of real, specific social phenomena on the other. It is also known as recherché postmodernism.
Donald Michael Thomas was a British poet, translator, novelist, editor, biographer and playwright. His work has been translated into 30 languages.
The Unconsoled is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, first published in 1995 by Faber and Faber, and winner of the Cheltenham Prize that year.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw is an American folk duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico, currently signed to L.M. Duplication. The band consists of accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who was previously the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel and Bablicon, and violinist Heather Trost. The music is inspired by Eastern European, Turkish and Balkan traditions, and is mostly instrumental. They have released six albums and have toured internationally. The first four albums and an EP were released on The Leaf Label and afterwards on their own label L. M. Duplication.
Cold wave is a loosely defined music genre that emerged in Europe in the late 1970s, characterized by its detached lyrical tone, use of early electronic music instruments and a minimalist approach and style. It emerged from punk rock bands who, influenced by early electronic groups such as Kraftwerk, made use of affordable portable synthesizers such as the Korg MS-20.
"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It appears in the 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel, which was produced by U2 lead vocalist Bono, and the song was included on the film's soundtrack. Author Salman Rushdie is credited as the lyricist, as the words are taken from his 1999 book The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Written during the recording sessions for U2's album All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000), the song features Daniel Lanois, who played pedal steel guitar. A different mix from the soundtrack version appears in the film. "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" was released as a promotional single in February 2000, reaching number two on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart, number 22 in Canada, and number one in Iceland.
The Satanic Verses controversy, also known as the Rushdie Affair, was a controversy sparked by the 1988 publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. It centered on the novel's references to the Satanic Verses of the Quran, and came to include a larger debate about censorship and religious violence. It included numerous killings, attempted killings, and bombings by perpetrators who supported Islam.
Following Ayatollah Khomeini's 14 February 1989 death fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, after the publication of Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, Yusuf Islam, made statements endorsing the killing of Rushdie. His statements generated criticism from commentators in the West.
The Enchantress of Florence is the ninth novel by Salman Rushdie, published in 2008. According to Rushdie this is his "most researched book" which required "years and years of reading".
Wierd Records is an American independent record label, founded in New York City by Pieter Schoolwerth in 2006.
Blacklist is a band from Brooklyn, New York composed of Joshua Strachan, Ryan Rayhill (bass), Glenn Maryansky (drums) and James Minor (guitar). They were one of the flagship bands of painter Pieter Schoolwerth's Wierd Records imprint. The band's atmospheric modern rock music was described as "anthemic"; "darkly erotic, strangely sensual"; and "a much-needed anomaly in NYC's music scene". They were sometimes classified as part of the post-punk revival, though their sound was generally more dense, incorporating elements of shoegaze and heavy metal with cold wave. The members often cited influences like My Bloody Valentine, Motörhead and Black Sabbath as influences alongside bands like the Comsat Angels, Killing Joke and the Sound.
Midnight's Children is a 2012 film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel of the same name. The film features an ensemble cast of Satya Bhabha, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Ronit Roy, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Seema Biswas, Shahana Goswami, Samrat Chakrabarti, Rahul Bose, Soha Ali Khan, Anita Majumdar and Darsheel Safary. With a screenplay by Rushdie and directed by Deepa Mehta, the film began principal photography in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in February 2011 and wrapped in May 2011. Shooting was kept a secret as Mehta feared protests by Islamic fundamentalist groups.
Joshua Strawn, known professionally as Joshua Strachan, is a songwriter, record producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist.
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French author Annie Ernaux "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory". It was announced by the Swedish Academy on 6 October 2022. Ernaux was the 16th French writer – the first Frenchwoman – and the 17th female author, to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
On August 12, 2022, novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times as he was about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, United States. A 24-year-old suspect, Hadi Matar, was arrested directly and charged the following day with assault and attempted murder. Rushdie was gravely wounded and hospitalized. Interviewer Henry Reese was also injured by the attacker.
