2026 Lannan Literary Festival: An Evening with Salman Rushdie

On March 31, 2026, Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie joined former NPR host and Princeton visiting professor Razia Iqbal for a conversation about his extraordinary writing life, viewed through the lens of change Rushdie will discuss his latest work, The Eleventh Hour, a quintet of short stories published in November 2025, alongside reflections on his literary journey from early novels exploring postcolonial experience to his recent memoir Knife, which chronicles his recovery from the 2022 attack.Salman Rushdie is the author of 22 books, including Midnight’s Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Moor’s Last Sigh, and Quichotte, all of which have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize; a collection of stories, East, West; a memoir, Joseph Anton; a work of reportage, The Jaguar Smile; and three collections of essays, including Languages of Truth. His most recent book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Nonfiction. His many awards include the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, which he won twice; the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award; the National Arts Award; the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger; the European Union’s Aristeion Prize for Literature; the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature; and the Italian Premio Grinzane Cavour. In 2007, he was awarded a Knighthood for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in 2022. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a former president of PEN America and the recipient of the PEN Centenary Courage Award. His books have been translated into over forty languages. In 2023, he was awarded the Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels and named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of the Year.Quantum Jazz — "Orbiting A Distant Planet" — Provided by Jamendo.