News Release

Back to Newsroom

---

07.11.08

Elaine Justice: 404-727-0643, _elaine.justice@emory.edu

Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" Wins Best of Booker Prize

Salman Rushdie, Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University, has taken the famous Booker Prize to new heights. His novel "Midnight's Children," which won the prize in 1981, has been voted the "greatest Booker Prize winner in the 40-year history of the award," according to an announcement in The Times of London.

The Best of the Booker was picked by ordinary readers, according to The Times, which noted that "at least half of the voters are under the age of 35," therefore not yet born when Rushdie wrote the novel.

"It's very exciting and gratifying, the more so because so many of the voters were so very young," Rushdie told The Times. "I'm very happy to think that 'Midnight's Children' continues to be relevant."

The Booker Prize, founded in 1969, is one of the world's most prestigious literary awards. In 1993, "Midnight's Children" received a similar accolade as the best novel in 25 years of the Booker Prize.

Rushdie's position as Distinguished Writer in Residence is a five-year appointment, and began in the spring of 2007. During each of the five years, he presents a public lecture, teaches for at least four weeks, leads a graduate seminar, participates in undergraduate classes, advises students and engages in symposia with the academic community.

In 2006, Rushdie placed his archive at Emory's Woodruff Library. Included in the archive are Rushdie's private journals detailing his nearly 10 years of living in the shadow of a /fatwa///, as well as personal correspondence, notebooks, photographs and manuscripts of all of his writings, including two early unpublished novels.

Related article from The Times of London: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4308790.ece

###

Emory University (http://www.emory.edu) is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate experience, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. Perennially ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report, Emory encompasses nine academic divisions as well as the Carlos Museum, The Carter Center, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, Georgia’s largest and most comprehensive health care system.

For automatic updates of the latest news at Emory, subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds (http://news.emory.edu/Releases/RSS1138822157.html).

---

Back to top