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Salman Rushdie Isn’t Afraid of Free Speech

Salman Rushdie Isn’t Afraid of Free Speech

The Mishal Husain Show vor 10 Monaten

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42:59

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 optimism

05:00 - Starting out as a writer

08:00 - Meeting E.M. Forster as a teenager

10:00 - “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
Husain

14:35 - The women in the family

16:00 - Getting together as a family

17:55 - Returning to India to write about childhood

20:30 - Reclaiming India

22:55 - India today and Prime Minister Modi

24:24 - “If you’re paying attention you see things coming”

24:50 - The family reacts to Midnight’s Children

26:44 - A farewell to India?

28:45 - Before and after the fatwa

31:30 - Defending free speech

32:25 - Banning books in the US

34:30 - Zohran Mamdani’s campaign

38:50 - The next novel

40:25 - “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 mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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