SALMAN RUSHDIE - WRITERS SPEAK OUT OVER RUSHDIE'S KNIGHTHOOD CONTROVERSY

WRITERS SPEAK OUT OVER RUSHDIE'S KNIGHTHOOD CONTROVERSY

LATEST: SALMAN RUSHDIE's controversial knighthood is dividing opinions in the literary world as well as political sphere, with MARTIN AMIS and WILL SELF debating the honour. Rushdie was included in British monarch QUEEN ELIZABETH II's Honours List on Saturday (16Jun07) but the accolade has been slammed by both Iran and Pakistan as anti-Islamic. The countries take offence to Rushdie's Muslim references in controversial 1988 work The Satanic Verses. Now novelists Martin Amis and Will Self have added their voices to the controversy, with the former insisting the accolade is hugely deserved. However, Self brands his literary colleague "irresponsible" for accepting the award considering the outrage it has created among Muslims worldwide. He says, "Given the furore the The Satanic Verses occasioned, it does strike me that any responsible writer might ask himself weather the fallout from accepting such an honour was really worth the bauble. "It is surely better that writers decline any form of honour."