Salman Rushdie Isn’t Afraid of Free Speech

Salman Rushdie was nearly killed when he was stabbed 15 times on stage in upstate New York in 2022. His injuries were so severe that he lost an eye. It was an attack that came decades after he was first subjected to death threats over his novel, The Satanic Verses.Once he had recovered, he found he was unable to write fiction. However, after publishing an account of what happened to him, the stories returned, with five brought together in his latest book, The Eleventh Hour.In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Rushdie talks about free speech, the family connection they both share and the places he’s called home, from India to Britain and the US. 02:30 - “Don’t waste your time”04:40 - Writing as a form of optimism05:00 - Starting out as a writer 08:00 - Meeting E.M. Forster as a teenager10:00 - “You write the story to find out what story you’re writing”11:15 - Writing Midnight’s Children 12:46 - The family connection between Salman Rushdie and Mishal Husain14:35 - The women in the family16:00 - Getting together as a family17:55 - Returning to India to write about childhood20:30 - Reclaiming India 22:55 - India today and Prime Minister Modi24:24 - “If you’re paying attention you see things coming”24:50 - The family reacts to Midnight’s Children26:44 - A farewell to India?28:45 - Before and after the fatwa31:30 - Defending free speech32:25 - Banning books in the US34:30 - Zohran Mamdani’s campaign38:50 - The next novel40:25 - “I’m a bit clumsier”Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview Contact The Mishal Husain Show [email protected] Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.