The word 'translation' comes, etymologically, from the Latin for 'bearing across'. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.

Though he enjoys writing Salman Rushdie says that he would have become an actor if his writing career had not been successful. S. "In the South.

He is said to combine magical realism with historical fiction; his work is concerned with the many connections disruptions and migrations between East and West. In 2008 The Times ranked him thirteenth on its list of the fifty greatest British writers since 1945.