Here is another blog entry which I meant to publish a long time ago, but never quite got around to doing, for some reason or another.
Several of these were for author events, including one that I published a few days ago (you may recall that I had not been aware that, in fact, I had published something on Erik Larson before publishing that particular post).
Unlike with some other literary events that I attended, there were no solid notes to fall back on for this particular event. Either I did not take good notes, or did not do a good job of keeping them where they could be easily and conveniently accessed after the fact. One way or another, there is very little that I can say about the discussion, as I recall admittedly very little. Perhaps the fact that this event took place well over five years ago (just about five and a half, to be more precise) accounts for this. For that, i am sorry not to be more thorough.
Nevertheless, it seemed like a decent idea to finally publish this, so here goes:
Another writer who made a public appearance which I attended, yet never quite got around to published a post on, was Salman Rushdie.
When I saw that Salman Rushdie was scheduled to do a reading and book signing, it was exciting.
Knowing that he is such a highly regarded literary figure, and that he rarely comes around in person, it was something that seemed worth seeing. Ironically, I had actually seen him once before, but only once. And he was not the main draw, as he was actually attending another literary event involving Stephen King, John Irving, and JK Rowling. In fact, he definitely participated, because he and a very young member of his family (I don't believe it was his child, but maybe a cousin?) asked a question, and received some public recognition based on his strong reputation as a writer. In fact, Rowling (the question was addressed to her) quipped that it might be unfair for him to be able to ask questions, being a writer with a very strong imagination and all. This was in the late summer of 2006, before the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series had been published.
But I digress...
I am only familiar with two of his written works: Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses. Admittedly, I tried to read Satanic Verses some years ago, but stopped well before reaching the end of it. Possibly even before reaching the middle of it, perhaps, although I cannot recall. But I will try again.
The Satanic Verses, however, are familiar to many people who did not read it, because it was at the center of an international controversy. The book was upsetting to many Muslims, particularly very devout Muslims. Maybe I am dating myself a bit too much here, but I can still remember the days when he was the target of Islamic extremists, particularly from the Iranian Republic, and he had to go into hiding because there was a price on his head. That was shortly after the time that The Satanic Verses came out, which was, of course, the cause of the controversy. It was viewed as heretical in nature, and an insult to the Koran. Iran put a bounty on Rushdie's head, and so the author had to go into hiding, where he was to remain for many years. It goes to show that writing can still stir considerable controversy. Maybe it did not stir as much controversy as, say, Charles Darwin's book on The Origin of Species, but in my lifetime, it probably was the most famous book to stir quite that much controversy.
That was around 1989, if memory serves correctly. But that was a long time ago, and a lot has changed since then. Rushdie was making this appearance in New York City in support of what was then his newly released work, "Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights."
As was mentioned earlier, I cannot recall much at all regarding the actual discussion, although I do remember being impressed at times. My apologies for not being able to recall much of anything specific.
However, here are the pictures that I took of that event:
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