4. He turned into a ‘thief’ for a newspaper story
At Cambridge University, Salman wrote for the student paper, reporting on a spate of thefts from student rooms. Wanting to emulate the journalists he admired, he decided: “Be the thief. So, I chose half a dozen staircases, knocked on doors, and if nobody answered, I saw if the door was unlocked. If it was, I went in and made a list of what I could steal.”
Sir Salman Rushdie in the Desert Island Discs Studios
I needed to feel optimistic myself. And I have to say the book written in maybe the darkest moment of my life has been one of the most joyful experiences in terms of its life in the world.”
Sir Salman Rushdie on writing Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Although he never actually stole anything, unfortunately for Salman, one of the unlocked rooms belonged to the editor of the paper. “It had a lot of very expensive stuff. To his credit, he ran the article. But he never hired me again.”
5. Literary success was not immediate
It took 13 years for Salman to become established as a successful author. After graduating from Cambridge in 1968, he worked in advertising. His first book, Grimus, was published in 1975 and had “a poor reception – to put it mildly”.
But in 1981 came Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize and has since been voted the best novel of all Booker winners. His fortieth birthday party in 1987 felt like a climax, and he picks Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) as his fifth disc to remind him of that celebration. “I’d had a very good decade. I didn’t realise that 1988 was going to descend like a hammer.”
6. His next book changed everything
After The Satanic Verses was published in 1988, a fatwa calling for Salman’s death was issued by the supreme leader of Iran. He hadn’t expected the storm. “It was treated as if it was nonfiction. I thought probably some people might not care for it. But I thought, ‘You don’t have to read it.’ That’s why there are lots of books in bookstores. You can read the ones you like.”
Salman had to leave his home and was under security protection for a long time. “If you had told me on that day, listening to Whitney, ‘Here’s what’s going to happen to you, how do you think you’ll handle it?’ I would not have bet on myself to handle it well. I would never describe myself as tough, but some bit of me obviously is.”
7. A promise to his son saved him
After being forced into hiding, he found his attitude to the situation changing. “What, I’m hiding behind the sofa?”, he remembers thinking, “that’s not very heroic. I think the thing that rescued me was work. I thought the only thing I can do is to go on being the writer that I’d always set out to be.”
Besides, he’d made a promise to his son to write a book that he’d enjoy reading. “If you make a promise to a child, you should probably keep it. So, I wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories.” It’s a very optimistic book, he explains. “I think maybe I needed to feel optimistic myself. And I have to say the book written in maybe the darkest moment of my life has been one of the most joyful experiences in terms of its life in the world.”