Salman Rushdie ** is the author of eleven previous novels--Grimus, Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), * Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor's Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, * The Encha...

Salman Rushdie ** is the author of eleven previous novels--Grimus, Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), * Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor's Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, * The Enchantress of Florence,and Luka and the Fire of Life --and one collection of short stories: East, West. He has also published four works of nonfiction-- Joseph Anton, * The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands,and Step Across This Line *--and co-edited two anthologies, Mirrorwork and Best American Short Stories 2008. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature.