At the British Library
Writers including Monica Ali, Hanif Kureishi, Julian Barnes and Nigella Lawson will gather this week at an event to celebrate Salman Rushdie.
An Evening for Salman Rushdie will be held at the British Library in London on 13 October, with members of the public invited to take part by attending in person or watching a live stream.
So we missed it, sorry, but it’s good to know it happened.
Others taking part by sharing readings or reflections include Mona Arshi, Melvyn Bragg, Mariella Frostrup, Meena Kandasamy, Kathy Lette, Pauline Melville, Margie Orford, Philippe Sands, Burhan Sönmez and Alan Yentob.
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The British Library event on Thursday is being described as a gathering to celebrate Rushdie’s “strength and dedication as a writer, activist, and a champion of free expression”.
You’re damn right. He stood up for Charlie Hebdo when way too many Manhattan trendies called them “Islamophobic.”
I have tried, and failed, to read his novels. Does that say more about Rushdie or me? I don’t know. But as an essayist and as a defender of free speech he is beyond excellence. I don’t think I have ever seen him waver no matter the pressure.
He truly is a living treasure.
I read and mostly enjoyed The Satanic Verses. He has an unusual way of phrasing things, of constructing sentences, that I found both charming and difficult to parse. I tried reading one or another of his other books and never finished it. Not unusual that I found it difficult to get through a work by a great writer; I don’t claim superb taste in reading material.
He is indeed a living treasure, for many reasons.
He’s a public intellectual as well as a writer of fiction. I don’t really love his fiction, but I don’t really have to.
I don’t claim any erudition, not by a long shot, but I found Shalimar the Clown to be a page turner! I plowed (slogged?) through Midnight’s Children. Worthwhile, but I was left feeling I had barely scratched its surface. I might try again.
Speaking of slogging…the 19th century English classics…oy!
Among current writers, I’m a fan of Emily St. John Mandel.
Rushdie is a good sport for A Party at Elton John’s House (2009)
Nigela Lawson?
Really?