Tuesday: Rushdie to Speak on Literature, Politics

February 15, 2010

World-renowned author Sir Salman Rushdie will give a lecture at Brown titled "Public Events, Private Lives: Literature and Politics in the Modern World" on Tuesday, February 16, at 5:30pm.

Both a pop culture icon and a provocative proponent of free speech, the Indian-born British writer was named one of the world's top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine and received a Queen's Knighthood for services to literature.

"Rushdie is among the most impressive commitments of literary intelligence to Indian materials," said Ashutosh Varshney, professor of political science at Brown. "He has also imaginatively straddled India and the world. ... One should note the extraordinary political courage that his life as a writer has come to exemplify." Varshney co-edited the 2009 essay collection Midnight's Diaspora: Encounters with Salman Rushdie.

Free and open to the public, the lecture will be held in Salomon Center, DeCiccio Family Auditorium, on the College Green. Doors will open at 4:30pm. After his lecture, Rushdie will answer questions from the audience.

This event is sponsored jointly by the Year of India, Cogut Center for the Humanities, and Watson Institute.