Ahmed Salman Rushdie was born on the 19th June 1947, in Bombay, then British India and is an essayist and author of fiction; the scene of his work is often the Indian subcontinent. He became famous for his novels “Midnight’s Children” (1981) and “The Satanic Verses” (1988), and for the latter, he was hit by a fatwa of the Iranian Muslim cleric Khomeini. Rushdie went into hiding for the first ten years and was thereafter under constant British police protection. Rushdie is the winner of various literature awards, including Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, Golden Pen Award, Hutch Crossword Book Award and many others. Salman has been active as a writer since 1975.
How much is the net worth of Salman Rushdie? It has been estimated that the overall size of his wealth is as much as $15 million, as of the data presented in the middle of 2016. Books are main source of Rushdie’s fortune.
Salman Rushdie Net Worth $15 Million
To begin with, Rushdie grew up in Bombay, in the family of a businessman-lawyer and a teacher. Later, he studied history and graduated with honours from King’s College, Cambridge, England. He then worked at advertising agencies (Ogilvy & Mather and Ayer Barker) before devoting himself entirely to literature.
Despite his Indian origins, Rushdie is one of the leading writers of modern English literature. He began his writing career with “Grimus” (1975) part fantasy part science fiction tale, which was generally ignored by the public and critics. His next book, “Midnight’s Children” (1981) brought him literary fame, is considered to be his best work, and had a great impact on Indian and British literature. After the success of “Midnight’s Children”, Rushdie published a short novel “Shame” in 1983. Here he gives a picture of the political turmoil in the independent Pakistan; both works are characterized by their magic realist style and approach to the Indian subcontinent from the perspective of the immigrant.
In 1988, “The Satanic Verses” was released. The book mixes the Quran with Bollywood, which led to controversy on a global scale, such that in the summer of 1989, a bomb was exploded in London’s Paddington that was meant for Rushdie. The British government banned a Pakistani movie, in which Rushdie is depicted as a casino owner who wants to overthrow the Pakistani government. Rushdie was against this ban and praised the scenes of the film. His fame and net worth were both growing.
Thereafter Rushdie’s horizon widened: besides India and Pakistan, he brought the Western world into the picture – “The Moor’s Last Sigh” (1995) addresses the cultural and trade relations between India and the Iberian Peninsula. Four years later in “The Ground Beneath her Feet” (1999), the rock ‘n’ roll scene in the background of the USA is described. “Fury” (2001) takes mostly place in the USA, and is about New York during the height of America’s wealth and power. In the novel, “Shalimar the Clown” (2005) Rushdie discusses the problems of the state of Kashmir, which is disputed by India and Pakistan. In his autobiographical novel – “Joseph Anton” (2012) – the author describes the events of his life under the ongoing fatwa as well as this friendships with other authors. He emphasized among other things that the events had not changed him as a writer. Recently, “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights” (2015) was released, a story again set in New York.
Rushdie was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981 and the Booker of Bookers Prize in 1993; this is the award for the best novel in 25 years to win a Booker Prize.
Finally, in the personal life of the author, Rushdie has been married four times, including to Clarissa Luard (1976–1987) with whom he has a son; Marianne Wiggins(1988–1993); Elizabeth West (1997–2004) which produced another son; and finally to date, to Padma Lakshmi(2004–2007).
