Novelist Salman Rushdie wins PEN/Pinter prize

June 20, 2014 08:43

Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie is the winner of this year's PEN/Pinter Prize in recognition of his support for freedom of speech and generous help to other writers, the prize judges said on Friday.

The prize, awarded by the British branch of the worldwide writers' association, is named for the late playwright Harold Pinter, who was an ardent advocate of human rights and a fighter for social causes.

Rushdie, 67, is probably best known for his 1988 book The Satanic Verses which outraged the Islamic world and forced him to take special security precautions after death threats were made against him, including a fatwa issued by Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

He also won the prestigious Booker Prize for his second novel, 'Midnight's Children', and has been a prolific novelist, essayist and public speaker.

"This prize is English PEN's way of thanking Salman Rushdie not just for his books and his many years of speaking out for freedom of expression, but also for his countless private acts of kindness," novelist and journalist Maureen Freely, chair of judges, said in a statement.

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