Born and brought up in Mumbai, a British citizen, he is the author of novels mostly set in the Indian subcontinent. His narrative style blends myth and fantasy with real life, following the dictates of magical realism. After having debuted with the fictional tale Grimus (1975), he catapulted to literary fame with Midnight’s Children (1980), still considered today one of his best novels. This work won the “Booker of the Bookers” in 1993, and again in 2008 it received the “Best of Bookers”. His most famous novel is The Satanic Verses (1988) for which the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him, considering the work blasphemous against Islam. This death sentence forced Rushdie to take refuge in Great Britain where he lived for many years under police protection. Besides the novels, he has also written the children’s book Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990), winner of the Writer's Guild Award, and has published several non-fiction. Rushdie has received numerous international awards. Since1999 he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres; he is also the president of PEN American Center, as well as Honorary Professor in Humanities at MIT. His latter works are The Enchantress of Florence (2008), Luka and the Fire of Life (2010), Joseph Anton – A Memoir (2012), all published in Italy by Mondadori.