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DESERT ISLAND DISCS: SIR SALMAN RUSHDIE (320kbs-m4a/133mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 23rd November 2025
Sir Salman Rushdie is a writer who has written over 20 books, seven of which have been nominated for the Booker Prize. In 1981 he won with his novel Midnight's Children which also topped the polls for the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the prize, making it the most lauded novel in Booker history.
He was born in Bombay in 1947 and educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire. After studying history at the University of Cambridge he worked as a copywriter at various advertising agencies before publishing his first novel Grimus in 1975. His breakthrough came with Midnight's Children and he was one of 20 writers named on Granta magazine's inaugural list of Best Young British novelists alongside writers including Martin Amis and AN Wilson.
He attracted considerable controversy with his fourth novel the Satanic Verses which won the Whitbread Award and was shortlisted for the Booker. Some Muslims considered the subject matter blasphemous and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of Salman and the publishers of the book. Salman spent the following decade in hiding under police protection.
In 2022 he was stabbed multiple times while on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. He had been invited there to talk about keeping writers safe from harm. He survived devasting injuries – including the loss of his right eye – and wrote about the attack and its aftermath in his memoir Knife.
That same year he was awarded a Companion of Honour for services to literature.
Salman is married to the poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths and they live in New York. He has two grown up sons and two grandchildren.
BOOK CHOICE: Homer's Odyssey (Translated by Emily Wilson)
LUXURY ITEM: A bed with a mosquito net
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: For the Love of You, Pts. 1 & 2 - The Isley Brothers
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side [RCA/Legacy]
Geeta Dutt & Mohammed Rafi - Yeh Hain Bombay Meri Jaan [Eben Entertainment]
Bob Dylan - Blowin' In The Wind [Columbia/Legacy]
The Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction [ABKCO]
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) [Arista/Legacy]
Paul Simon - Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard [Sony Music UK]
Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely [Sony Music UK]
The Isley Brothers - For the Love of You, Pts. 1 & 2 [Legacy Recordings]
THIS CULTURAL LIFE - 95. SALMAN RUSHDIE (320kbs-m4a/98mb/42mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 20th June 2024
One of the world's greatest novelists, Salman Rushdie has won many prestigious international literary awards and was knighted for services to literature in 2007. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for Midnight's Children, a novel that was also twice voted as the best of all-time Booker winners. In 1989 Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini declared that Rushdie's fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, was blasphemous and pronounced a death sentence against its author. For over a decade he lived in hiding with close security, a period of his life that he wrote about in the 2012 memoir Joseph Anton. His most recent book Knife details the horrific stabbing he survived in 2022.
Talking to John Wilson, Salman Rushdie recalls his childhood in Bombay, and the folk tales and religious fables he grew up with. He chooses Indian independence and partition in 1947 as one of the defining moments of his creative life, a period that formed the historical backdrop to Midnight's Children. He discusses how, having first moved to England as a schoolboy and then to New York after the fatwa, the subject of migration has recurred throughout much of his work, including The Satanic Verses. Rushdie also explains how "surrealism, fabulism and mythical storytelling" are such an influence on his work, with particular reference to his 1999 novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet which was inspired by the ancient Greek tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. As Rushdie says, "truth in art can be arrived at through many doors".
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Archive used:
BBC News, 12 Aug 2022
Newsnight, BBC2, 12 Aug 2022
BBC Sound archive, India: Transfer of Power, 15 August 1947
Nehru: Man of Two Worlds, BBC1, 27 Feb 1962
Midnight's Children, Book at Bedtime, BBC Radio 4, 27 August 1997
Advert, Fresh Cream Cakes, 1979
BBC News, 14 Feb 1989
The World At One, BBC Radio 4, 14 Feb 1989
BBC News, 28 May 1989
Today, BBC Radio 4, 27 April 1990
Clip from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 9, episode 3
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN: SALMAN RUSHDIE IN CONVERSATION (320kbs-m4a/30mb/13mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th August 2017
To accompany BBC Radio 4's major new dramatisation of Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie talks to radio drama director Emma Harding about his multi-award winning novel. They discuss the initial impetus for the novel and the mirroring of his own life as a child born 70 years ago in 1947, the year of India's Partition.
Rushdie also talks about the break-through moment of finding Saleem's voice, his attempt to represent the multiplicity of India in a single novel, and his pessimism about the direction of travel of India and Pakistan today.
Produced by Emma Harding.
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN - PART 7: THE SHADOW OF THE MOSQUE (320kbs-m4a/129mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th August 2017
Salman Rushdie's ground-breaking novel of love, history and magic, dramatised by Ayeesha Menon. Starring Nikesh Patel, Aysha Kala and Nitin Ganatra.
Containing two episodes:
The Shadow of the Mosque - With the help of Parvati the Witch, Saleem returns to Bombay.
Midnight - Saleem is reunited with the other Midnight's Children in terrifying circumstances
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced and directed by Emma Harding
All other parts were played by Ronny Jhutti, Abhin Galeya, Emilio Doorgasingh, Selva Rasalingam, Kerry Gooderson and Sheetal Kapoor.
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN - PART 5: ALPHA AND OMEGA (320kbs-m4a/101mb/44mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th August 2017
Salman Rushdie's dazzling novel of love, history and magic, dramatised by Ayeesha Menon. Starring Nikesh Patel, Chetna Pandya and Meera Syal.
Contains two episodes:
Alpha and Omega - Saleem continues to talk telepathically to all the other Midnight's Children, who all have their own unique magical powers.
Revelations - Mary's guilty secret finally becomes too much to bear.
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced and directed by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding.
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN - PART 3: SNAKES AND LADDERS (320kbs-m4a/100mb/44mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th August 2017
A new dramatization of Salman Rushdie's dazzling novel of love, history and magic. Born at the moment of India's Partition, Saleem grows up in the care of two adoring mothers. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon. Starring Nikesh Patel, Anneika Rose, Zain Syed and Misha Shah.
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced and directed by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding
All other parts were played by Deeivya Meir, Sagar Arya, Selva Rasalingam, Renu Brindle, Silas Carson and Aysha Kala.
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN - PART 2: THE BIRTH OF A NATION (320kbs-m4a/32mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th August 2017
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India, an ambitious new dramatization of Salman Rushdie's dazzling novel of love, history and magic. Saleem Sinai is born on the stroke of midnight on 15th August 1947, at the exact moment that India and Pakistan become separate, independent nations. From that moment on, his fate is mysteriously handcuffed to the history of his country.
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon. Starring Nikesh Patel, Narinder Samra and Maya Sondhi
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced and directed by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding
All other parts were played by Selva Rasalingam, Renu Brindle, Ronny Jhutti, Rina Mahoney and Aysha Kala.
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN - PART 1: THE PERFORATED SHEET (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th August 2017
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India, an ambitious new dramatization of Salman Rushdie's dazzling novel of love, history and magic. Saleem Sinai is born on the stroke of midnight on 15th August 1947, at the exact moment that India and Pakistan become separate, independent nations. From that moment on, his fate is mysteriously handcuffed to the history of his country. The story starts with Saleem's grandfather, Aadam, in Kashmir in 1915.
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon. Starring Nikesh Patel, Abhin Galeya and Meera Syal.
Episode 1: The Perforated Sheet - Dr Aadam Aziz falls in love with a woman concealed behind a perforated sheet.
Episode 2: Hit the Spittoon - Aadam gives refuge to a young poet, scared for his life after the murder of the Hummingbird.
Episode 3: The Public Announcement - Saleem's imminent birth is accidentally announced to the world.
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced and directed by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding.