Salman Rushdie dismissed the death threats on several occassions. (FILE)
Author Salman Rushdie, whose controversial writings made him the target of a fatwa, was stabbed on stage at an event on Friday in New York.
5 Facts About Salman Rushdie
- Salman Rushdie has written one of the most controversial novels ever, The Satanic Verses (1988). The novel resulted in Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death. A bounty of over $3 million was also offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
- Iran's government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini's decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
- The author, however, dismissed the threat at the time, saying there was "no evidence" of people being interested in the reward.
- Salman Rushdie went into hiding for nearly ten years as the aftershock of The Satanic Verses resulted in some very serious events - his translators were attacked, bookstores bombed.
- His second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions.He was also knighted for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 16 June 2007.
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