Salman Rushdie on Mortality, Memory and The Eleventh Hour

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s most acclaimed, award-winning contemporary authors. Translated into over forty languages, his sixteen works of fiction include Midnight’s Children – for which he won the Booker Prize in 1981, the Booker of Bookers on the 25th anniversary of the prize and Best of the Booker on the 40th anniversary – Shame, The Satanic Verses, Quichotte and Victory City. His latest non-fiction book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022. In this episode, Rushdie sits down with broadcaster and journalist Kavita Puri to discuss his reflections on legacy, mortality, and returning to fiction in his new short story collection The Eleventh Hour. The stories in The Eleventh Hour span the three countries that Rushdie has called home – India, England and America – and explore what it means to approach the eleventh hour of life. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you stuck in traffic watching brake lights, and you'd rather be watching the northern lights?
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0:29.7	Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet.
0:33.9	I'm producer Mia Serenti.
0:36.1	On today's episode, author Salman Rushdie reflects on legacy, mortality, and his return to fiction after the attempt on his life in 2022.
0:46.2	Salman Rushdie is one of the world's most acclaimed, award-winning contemporary authors.
0:51.4	Now, drawing on his new short story collection, The 11th Hour, Rushdie sits down
0:55.8	with broadcaster and journalist Kavita Puri to discuss the people and places that have shaped him
1:00.8	and explores what it means to approach the 11th hour of life. Let's join our host, Kavita Puri, now
1:07.5	with more. Welcome to Intelligence Squared.
1:11.7	I'm Kavita Puri.
1:13.5	Our guest today is Salman Rushdie.
1:16.5	Salman is one of the world's most acclaimed, award-winning contemporary authors.
1:21.3	He's written 22 books and has been translated into over 40 languages.
1:26.2	His works of fiction include Midnight's Children, for which he
1:29.4	won the Booker Prize in 1981, the Booker of Bookers on the 25th anniversary of the prize,
1:35.6	and best of the Booker on the 40th anniversary. He's also written Shame, The Satanic Verses, and Victory City.
1:43.7	His latest book of non-fiction, Knife, Meditations
	...

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