Salman Rushdie Arrived In Bucharest Monday

Rushdie said this is the first time he visits Romania and he hopes he will have some time to look around, adding his program for the next days includes "books, work, reading, signing."

In response to a question regarding the fact that he did not ask for protection, as he was sentenced to death in Iran in 1989 after publishing "The Satanic Verses" and the fatwa is still valid, Rushdie said this is an old story and changed the subject.

During his visit to Romania, Rushdie will attend meetings with his readers and the press, within a program organized by Polirom publishing house.

Rushdie will also make a short visit to Transylvania.

Rushdie will meet with his fans Tuesday at Odeon Theatre where he will perform readings from "The Enchantress of Florence", his latest novel translated in Romanian by Polirom.

TVR Cultural will present a documentary about Rushdie which will be followed by an unplugged performance by Romanian band Grimus, named for Rushdie's first novel.

The event will be moderated by Romanian poet Florin Iaru.

Wednesday, Rushdie will be present at the Gaudeamus book fair in Bucharest where he will give autographs to his fans.

Born in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1947, Rushdie left India for England at age 13 and was schooled at the prestigious King's College in Cambridge. After graduation, he moved to Karachi, Pakistan, and returned to Britain to become a full-time writer after a brief job in television.

Rushdie made his literary debut in 1975, with "Grimus", but the novel that brought him world fame was 1981's "Midnight's Children", which received the Booker prize in 1981 and the Booker of Bookers in 1993.

After "Midnight's Children" came "Shame" (1983), "The Satanic Verses" (1988), which brought him a death sentence in Iran, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories " (1990), "The Moor's Last Sigh" (1995),"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" (1999), "Fury" (2001) and "Shalimar the Clown" (2005), all translated in Romanian and published in Romania by Polirom.

Besides these works of fiction, Polirom has also published translations of Rushdie's essays, interviews and reviews, "Imaginary Homelands" (1992), the short stories of "East, West " (1994) and a vast anthology of essays and recollections, "Step across this Line" (2002).

Rushdie was recently knighted for services to literature, a gesture which stirred violent reactions among Muslim protesters who recalled the controversy stirred with the release of "The Satanic Verses" nearly 20 years before.

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