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Salman Rushdie to speak at Albion College
By Brian Wheeler
Staff Writer
The Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Monday, April 21, 2003
Salman Rushdie, the author known better for the death threat against him than the acclaimed work that inspired it, will visit Albion College on Thursday.
The Indian-born Rushdie will speak at 7 p.m. in the college's Goodrich Chapel, ending a day of events on campus during his second public appearance in Michigan in as many months. The University of Michigan last month hosted a performance of "Midnight's Children," a play based on his novel of the same name, by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Rushdie was forced into hiding in 1989 after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a "fatwa," or a religious order for his death, after the publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses." The ordeal turned him into a prominent commentator on radical Islam long before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
But James Diedrick, a professor of humanities at Albion, said the notoriety that Rushdie received obscures his status as a literary giant.
"His political commentary has an increasing relevance because of 9/11, but even if it were not for that, he'd be relevant because of his work," said Diedrick, who will introduce Rushdie before the author receives an honorary degree from Albion.
Rushdie will speak as part of the college's Elkin R. Isaac Symposium, which last year featured writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr. College officials say hey're taking no special precautions with Rushdie's visit at his request, although anyone hoping to attend his speech must obtain tickets first.
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