USC ends series with Rushdie

The University of South Carolina's popular course "Caught in the Creative Act: Writers Talk About Their Writing," concludes its seventh year of free community readings and lectures Wednesday with an appearance by celebrated novelist Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie will do a reading and discuss his book, "Midnight's Children," at 5:45 p.m. in Belk Auditorium of the Moore School of Business. Free to the public, the event also will showcase a post-address Q&A session with the audience.

"Midnight's Children," Rushdie's second novel, earned the Booker Prize for fiction in 1981. The native of India was forced into exile in 1989 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran proclaimed his book "The Satanic Verses" heretical and issued a fatwa against Rushdie. Rushdie emerged from hiding in 1998. Today, he is a distinguished writer-in-residence at Emory University in Atlanta.

Two additional public events in Gambrell Auditorium are planned for Monday in preparation for Rushdie's talk. The "Caught in the Creative Act" lecture on "Midnight's Children" will be held from 5:45 to 7 p.m., led by Janette Turner Hospital, Carolina Distinguished Professor of English and writer-in-residence at USC. Following a reception, a symposium titled "Ethics, Religion and International Relations: Reflections on Salman Rushdie," will begin at 7:30 p.m. The discussion will feature University of South Carolina faculty in the fields of religious studies, English, anthropology and law.

Serving as moderator is Brad Warthen, editorial page editor of The State newspaper.

Symposium panelists include Dr. Cliff Hospital, who will discuss the Indian religious and folklore elements in "Midnight's Children" and the history of Hindu/Muslim tensions in India; Dr. Waleed El-Ansary, who will explore the meaning of fatwas (Islamic religious rulings) and why "The Satanic Verses" triggered such international furor and death threats; Dr. Maimuna Huq, who will probe Islamic culture and political movements in South Asia; and Dr. Meili Steele, whose subject is political discourse, book burnings and writing as a political act. The symposium is sponsored by the Walker Institute for International and Area Studies. For more information about "Caught in the Creative Act," visit the Web site: www.cas.sc.edu/cica. For more information about the symposium Monday, contact the Walker Institute at 803-777-8180.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.