Join the Southbank Centre and English PEN for the launch of Rushdie’s memoir, as he shares his survival story via livestream in conversation with Erica Wagner.
Join the event live or online to hear directly from the internationally renowned and Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12 2022. He answers violence with art and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. In an evening combining live readings from actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Anjana Vasan, and candid reflections from Salman Rushdie, this event offers a deeply personal account of the attack and its aftermath.
Salman Rushdie is the author of fifteen previous novels, including Midnight’s Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Moor’s Last Sigh, and Quichotte, all of which have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
He is a former president of PEN America, the recipient of the PEN Centenary Courage Award, and winner of the 2014 PEN Pinter Prize. His books have been translated into over forty languages. In 2023, he was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of the Year.
Erica Wagner’s books include Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort-of Love Story; Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge; First Light: A Celebration of Alan Garner and a novel, Seizure. She was the literary editor of The Times for seventeen years and is a contributing writer for the New Statesman and consulting literary editor for Harper’s Bazaar. She is Goldsmiths Distinguished Writers’ Centre Fellow and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.
Actor and writer Sanjeev Bhaskar gained notoriety as creator and performer of the BBC hit series Goodness Gracious Me, and wrote and starred in The Kumars at No. 42, which had global success, winning two Emmys, a BAFTA nomination, a British Comedy Award and the Bronze Rose at Montreux. In 2007, Bhaskar embarked on a highly personal journey through modern India with the BBC to commemorate 60 years of Indian independence. His accompanying travel book became a Sunday Times bestseller.
Anjana Vasan was born in Chennai, India, and moved to Singapore when she was four. She is an actress and singer-songwriter based in London. Anjana is known for her stage work, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for her role in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre in 2023, opposite Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran. Anjana was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for her role in the Channel 4 sitcom We Are Lady Parts. Other TV appearances include Black Mirror and Killing Eve, among many others.