Salman Rushdie

New details, and condemnations from English PEN, American PEN and many other quarters, are still coming in following reports that South African novelist ZP Dala has been admitted to a mental asylum in Durban, after remarks in praise of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and attacks on her that ensued. The original statement […]

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Well, the Humble Bundle once again breaks new ground. Not content to have offered pay-what-you-want sales in computer games, music, and e-books (twice), now it’s launched an audiobook bundle. The titles you get for paying anything within the next two weeks include: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (Anyone remember when the fatwa Rushdie got [...]

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When I picked up the current Scientific American my eye was immediately drawn to the cover line, "Google Is Changing the Way You Think." Given the sensationalist tone that often accompanies explorations of how Internet use affects cognition, the article was a measured summation of studies that indicate a) we often go online to answer questions we used to ask friends and b) relying on the Internet for information we or our friends used to remember means while we have access to more information than ever, we know less.

For centuries, biographers have relied on letters to bring historical figures to life, whether Gandhi or Catherine the Great. But as people switch from writing on paper to documenting their lives electronically, biographers are encountering new benefits - and new challenges.

Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is based on dozens of interviews. But one of the book's juiciest episodes comes from a string of emails from 2003. That's when Apple launched the iTunes music store. Right away, the company's rivals at Microsoft understood this could be a game changer.

Chris Coen’s Unanimous Entertainment has secured the rights to MAY WE BE FORGIVEN by A.M. Homes.  Originally published to widespread acclaim by Viking in the U.S. and Granta Books in England this past October, the book recently won the high-profile Women’s Prize for Fiction inLondon. Rights to the novel have been sold in eleven other countries to date.

The best-selling horror author James Herbert, described as ‘one of the giants of popular fiction’, died yesterday aged 69. Mr Herbert, who wrote horror classic The Rats, died only a week after his 23rd novel, Ash, was published. He was prolific, releasing a new novel almost every year between 1974 and 1988, but said he remained ‘very insecure’ about his skills as a writer.