Salman Rushdie, a U.S. citizen for the past decade, will receive the National Book Foundation's medal for lifetime achievement, an honor reserved for esteemed American writers. The 79-year-old author, a native of Mumbai, emigrated to England in his teens and now resides in New York City.
Rushdie described the award as creating a similar sense of belonging to American literature as his U.S. citizenship has to his sense of self. "I think there's something similar about this (award)," he stated during a recent Zoom interview. He is the 39th recipient of the award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and one of only four recipients born outside the U.S., joining Saul Bellow, Isabel Allende, and Art Spiegelman.
Longtime friend and author Kiran Desai is scheduled to present Rushdie with the medal at the National Book Awards ceremony in Manhattan on November 18. The event will also honor pediatrician and literacy activist Perri Klass with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.
Rushdie, who has published more than 20 books, including the Booker Prize-winning "Midnight's Children," is also widely known for his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses." The book's references to the Prophet Muhammad led to widespread protests and a fatwa calling for the author's death.
In 2022, Rushdie was repeatedly stabbed onstage at a literary festival in western New York. An assailant was found guilty of attempted murder and, in a separate trial, of transnational terrorism and providing material support to Hezbollah. Rushdie has since released a memoir about the attack, titled "Knife," and a story collection, "The Eleventh Hour."
"Knife" was also Rushdie's sole competitive National Book Award nomination, which came in 2024. The memoir is the basis for an upcoming documentary of the same name, set for release on September 17.
The National Book Foundation's executive director, Ruth Dickey, stated that Rushdie's "sweeping body of work is a celebration of literature's power to shape narratives, build bridges, and form connections beyond borders, generations, and identities." Dickey added that Rushdie's writing "thrives in its specificity—offering readers access to unflinchingly honest stories that are culturally, politically, and geographically varied."
Rushdie views himself as a "city writer," with his life story divided into three parts: South Asia, London, and New York. He considers himself part of a long tradition of immigrant writers who have enriched American literature, stating, "American writers come from everywhere, right?"