India-born author Salman Rushdie knighted

London, June 16: India-born author Salman Rushdie, whose novel 'The Satanic Verses' earned the ire of the clergy in Iran, has been knighted. The author, along with England's legendary cricketer Ian Botham, will be knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours. The Booker's Prize winner Rushdie reacted to the honour saying, ''I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way.'' Rushdie was forced into hiding for a decade after Iran's spiritual leader ordered his assassination following the publication of Satanic Verses. Rushdie is one of the prominent and often one of the most controversial novelists of the late 20th century.

Besides the Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981, he won the ''Booker of Booker'', a special award honouring the best novel in the 25-year history of the prize in 1993.

The inclusion of Botham comes after he was previously denied the honour for being suspended for smoking marijuana on a cricket tour to the West Indies in 1986.

UNI