Salman Rushdie

In 1990 Salman Rushdie claimed he had renewed his Muslim faith and repudiated the attacks on Islam in his novel Satanic Verses, for which there was a fatwa on his head. Now he’s recanted that statement in an interview to be broadcast next month, saying it was all a sham, a product of “deranged thinking”.

Well, it will be a noble death, I suppose.

On his way to a speaking engagement at Widener University yesterday, Salman Rushdie was intercepted by a security escort that included police tactical units armed with assault rifles and K-9 dogs. The author, who has not lived under protection since 1999, was horrified. “Assault rifles, tracker dogs - they scare me.”

Salman Rushdie fans will be happy to learn that he next Rushdie novel The Enchantress of Florence will be published June 3rd by Random House. The historical novel is set in Renaissance Florence and the court of the Mughal Empire and offers intrigue, drama, romance and magic.

Iran feels Britain’s knighting of Salman Rushdie is a deliberate poke at Islam. Maybe they’re right.