Acclaimed British writer Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses” and “Children of Midnight,” will open activities in the Literary Salon at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) later this year.
Rushdie will present his new work, “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,” described by publishers Penguin Random House as “a spellbinding work of fiction that blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story.”
This will be Rushdie’s second visit to the FIL. A previously unannounced appearance in 1995 came amid intense security due to the death threats that the Indian-born author faced at that time.
In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran, declared a fatwa requiring Rushdie’s execution for the “blasphemy” against Islam contained in “Satanic Verses.” (The fatwa was officially lifted in 1998, and since settling in New York in early 2000, Rushdie has moved around freely.)
Many of Rushdie’s novels take place on the Indian subcontinent and combine magical realism with historical fiction. He frequently explores the connections, disruptions and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations.
The 250-page “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights”is a fantasy based on “One Thousand and One Nights,” the collection of Middle Eastern and Asian stories compiled during the Islamic Golden Age (880-1250AD) that are often referred to in English as “Arabian Nights.”
A former winner of the U.K.’s prestigious Booker Prize, Rushdie last autumn received the PEN/Pinter Prize when he made headlines for blasting the “hate-filled rhetoric” of Islamic extremism.
Rushdie was knighted by British Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature in 2007.
Rushdie will open the FIL Literary Salon on Sunday, November 29, noon. His book presentation will be on Tuesday, December 1, 8 p.m. Both events will be open to the public free of charge, although large audiences are anticipated.
FIL, the world’s second-largest literary fair, runs at Expo Guadalajara from Saturday, November 28 to Sunday, December 6.
The United Kingdom is this year’s guest nation.
Around 150 British authors, artists, academics and representatives of publishing houses have been lined up to appear at the fair. Authors expected to show up include Sir Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate from 1999-2009; Philippa Gregory, author of such successes as “The Other Boleyn Girl” and “The White Queen”; and Irvine Welsh, the often controversial Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer recognized for his cult novel “Trainspotting.”