Sunday, February 15, 2009

Rushdie the House Guest

We made him welcome. I was his lawyer and he was a good friend of my wife, the author Kathy Lette. More important than these links, as it turned out, was the orientation of our house in Islington, north London, which overlooked a church: our bedrooms, the security service explained, offered a clear view of the approach of any would-be assassin.
Geoffrey Robertson QC, in The Times, on having Salman Rushdie as a house guest following the fatwa, twenty years ago yesterday.

More (if you can bear it!) at The Guardian - this time in the form of a documentary which interviews those involved in the book burning incidents.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Am reading The Enchantress of Florence which is so so good....

savante said...

A window with a clear view of any would-be assassin. Wow.

Amir Muhammad said...

I remember this contest organised by The New Statesman, to guess the famous last words of people who are still alive. One of the winners:
Salman Rushdie: 'Who are you and how did you get in?'

bibliobibuli said...

amir - that is so funny!

so sorry id di not get to your launch yesterday - was tied up with the british council workshop. hope it went well.

Amir Muhammad said...

The chocolate fountain was apparently brill, and everything edible was gobbled up in less than an hour.

Oh yes, we sold a few books too.

bibliobibuli said...

nice to see you got your priorities right!