Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born 19 June 1947) is a British Indian novelist and essayist. His second novel; Midnight's Children (1981); won the Booker Prize in 1981. Much of his fiction is set on the Indian subcontinent. His style is often classified as magical realism mixed with historical fiction; and a dominant theme of his work is the story of the many connections; disruptions and migrations between the Eastern and Western worlds.

His fourth novel; The Satanic Verses (1988); was the centre of a major controversy; drawing protests from Muslims in several countries. Some of the protests were violent; in which death threats were issued to Rushdie; including a fatwa against him by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; the Supreme Leader of Iran; on February 14; 1989.

He was appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for 'services to literature' in June 2007. He holds the rank Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. He began a five-year term as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University in 2007. In May 2008 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2008; The Times ranked Rushdie thirteenth on their list of 'The 50 greatest British writers since 1945'. His latest novel is Luka and the Fire of Life; published in November 2010. In 2010; he announced that he has begun writing his memoirs.