Salman Rushdie knighted

“If you’re lucky enough to have even one book gets into people’s consciousness in that way then its fortunate, and the fact that that book (Midnight’s Children … 27 years after it was published is still interesting to people, I’m very proud of that.”

Salman Rushdie discusses his knighthood on a short, taped interview with the BBC News.

The AFP has a piece on the event here, and India’s Sify news has a brief piece on its site.

Meanwhile, Rushdie’s new book, The Enchantress of Florence, was reviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer during the week. Reviewer Carlin Romano had this to say:

In some ways, “Enchantress” launches a successor style to now-passe magic realism — call it sardonic exoticism. On top of Rushdie’s customary wryness (one perk in Akbar’s water-park capital is “the best of all possible pools”), Rushdie takes Rabelasian risks here that will please all serious readers: those who expect sentences, and not just plots, to surprise them.