Unfortunately, attention to what Franklin said about American liberty has often been crowded out by his other accomplishments. His discoveries went far beyond his famous kite experiment, including the identification of lead poisoning and the charting of ocean currents. He founded the University of Pennsylvania, as well as America’s first public library and hospital. He even published the first political cartoon in the colonies. He ran his own paper and published Poor Richard’s Almanac. He was a prolific inventor, from his trademark bifocals to the Franklin Stove and artificial fertilizer. And it really did shape so much of my body of work to come.However, Franklin’s role in our founding has been eclipsed in modern memory by his many other accomplishments. But it was such a powerful experience to read that book as a young person, a young writer, as a young Muslim. Maybe that wasn't the part of it that was the role model. It could do so in a brilliant way.Īnd it could get you into a lot of trouble. And it could do so in a playful way, in a satirical way. And it was a big event in my community's life and in my family's life.Īnd that book had such a pivotal effect on my understanding of the force of literature, what writing could do, how it could question the most fundamental things you believed.
What do you see in him?Īyad Akhtar, Novelist and Playwright: Well, I grew up in a Muslim family.Īnd when Salman wrote "The Satanic Verses" in 19, the fatwa came down, and he was - a price was put on his head by the Iranian government. Salman Rushdie is your friend, I know, but you have also told me that he's a role model.
He's also the current president of the free speech organization PEN America, a position previously held by Salman Rushdie himself.Īnd, Ayad Akhtar, thank you for joining us. He's a Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright and novelist. Salman Rushdie the man and the writer and the wider impact of the attack against him.
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