Salman Rushdie net worth: Author's fortune explored amid recent stabbing attack

On Friday, August 12, Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times prior to his lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. According to multiple reports, Rushdie was rushed to an Erie, Pennsylvania hospital in an air ambulance.

In the incident, Rushdie was stabbed in multiple places like neck, abdomen, and more. He also sustained injuries to multiple organs, including his liver and one of his eyes, where he might lose vision. The author’s agent Andrew Wylie told Reuters on August 13 that:

“Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

On Friday, Rushdie, who is 75 years old, was on the ventilator and was unable to speak. However, the world renowned author’s condition seems to have improved since then. Later, British author Aatish Taseer tweeted that Rushdie was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking)."

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Salman Rushdie’s net worth and literary career explored as author recovers

According to data pooled from multiple online portals, Salman Rushdie is worth around $10 to $15 million. The majority of his fortune can be traced back to the single most crucial point in his life--the release of his controversial book, The Satanic Verses. The book’s sales immediately after its launch in 1988, was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, in February 1989, The Satanic Verses caused a massive uproar in Pakistan over the depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Following this, the late and former leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a Fatwa (Islamic legal ruling) against Salman Rushdie and the publishers of the book. The Fatwa also called for their deaths, which caused Rushdie to stay in hiding for around a decade.

This massive religious backlash and the controversy spewed by it skyrocketed the sales of the book. According to Daniel Pipes’ 1990 book, The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West, Salman Rushdie earned around $2 million within the first year of the book’s release. Meanwhile, a 2012 Daily Mail article by Geoffrey Levi claimed that Rushdie had bought a mansion at The Bishop’s Avenue, Hampstead, which was reportedly worth multi-millions.

With 12 novels and numerous essays and children’s books, Salman Rushdie is one of the most successful authors of this century. In a 2020 interview with IOL’s Chris Taylor, Rushdie opened up about his spending habits and hinted at how he amassed such massive fortune. The Golden PEN Award winner disclosed that he did not have much money at the beginning of his career. He said:

“I was broke most of the time. In those days in the UK, you could get a part-time job at an ad agency and work two or three days a week. “Midnight’s Children” took five years to write, and I paid the bills by working at Ogilvy & Mather.”

The Shalimar the Clown writer further stated:

“I’ve always been quite sensible about money. I didn’t buy any fast cars, for instance – I bought an ordinary Citroen. Even if I had the money, I never wanted a Lamborghini. I don’t have extravagant tastes, and I never have had.”

It appears that despite the tragic incident which left him hospitalized recently, Salman Rushdie’s net worth will receive a boost. According to Indy100, The Satanic Verses’ sales have increased since the reports of the stabbing. Multiple books written by Rushdie have again entered the best-sellers list on platforms like Amazon over the past 48 hours.