‘Verses’ Author At Fairfield Univ.

FAIRFIELD — Complex and controversial author Salman Rushdie, whose works have both won international awards and elicited death threats, will open the 2004-05 Open Visions Forum lecture/discussion series at Fairfield University on Wednesday, September 22, at 8 pm. His lecture will be in the Quick Center for the Arts.

While he entered the literary world with his 1975 book Grimus, a tale bordering on science fiction that was largely ignored by critics and readers alike, and then began drawing attention with subsequent releases Midnight’s Children and Shame, it was Mr Rushdie’s fourth novel, The Satanic Verses – an irreverent fantasy depiction of the prophet Muhammad and the birth of Islam that won the 1988 Whitbread Award – for which he is probably best known.

His oeuvre contains The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995), The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999), Fury (2001) and Step Across This Line (2003), the latter two having been released after the author began living publicly again.

Tickets to the lecture are $25 for adults, $22.50 for senior citizens and students. For more  information call 203-254-4010.