Clarissa Luard: Who Is Salman Rushdie’s First Wife?

Clarissa Luard is the first wife, of Salman Rushdie.

Luard is Literature officer of the Arts Council of England. She married Rushdie in 1976 and divorced him in 1987.

They both share a son named Zafar, who was born in 1979. Zafar is married to popular jazz singer Natalie Rushdie.

Who Is Salman Rushdie?

Salman Rushdie is an Indian born, British-American author, born on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India.

Salman is known for his Indian historical fiction which revolves around disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations.

His popular novel, Midnight’s Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981. His controversial novel titled The Satanic Verses, which he wrote in 1988, had sparked up protests from Islamic extremists.

Rushdie had received death threats and afterwards, a call for his assassination was made by Ruhollah Khomeini, the then supreme leader of Iran.

In the middle of the uproar, Rushdie received protection from the British government.

In 1983, Rushdie became a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. and was made a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999.

He was listed number 30 of 50 named on The Times as one of the greatest British writers since 1945.

Rushdie lectured at Emory University and in 2015, was honoured as Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University.

In 2012, Rushdie was called to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the same year he published his book, Joseph Anton: A Memoir.

On 12 August 2022, Rushdie was brutally attacked and stabbed by a man during a lecture in Chautauqua, New York.