A group of 10 Linfield College students and faculty took part in a live discussion of an Oregon Public Broadcasting interview with novelist Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie talked about his life, including his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses, which was the center of a major controversy provoking protests from Muslims in several countries. Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran decreed a fatwa calling for the novelist Salman Rushdie’s death. The author went into hiding, and had to use a pseudonym. Rushdie also talked about his close-to-death experience under the fatwa.

In addition to the OPB broadcast, students also attended an evening lecture given by Rushdie, part of a lecture series organized by Literary Arts in Portland.

Linfield English Professors Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt and Daniel Pollack-Pelzner accompanied students to the interview. Dutt-Ballerstad teaches English and gender studies classes at Linfield. Pollack-Pelzner teaches Shakespeare, Renaissance drama and British literary history, and serves as scholar-in-residence for the Portland Shakespeare Project.

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