Three new books — “Calling for a Blanket Dance,” “Stories From the Tenants Downstairs” and “Sirens & Muses” — explore intimate worlds and communities, as seen through a multitude of perspectives.
He drew on his theological credentials in essays and memoirs, and his fiction, full of colorful characters, was admired for its elegance, wit and depth.
He was a first-time novelist whose tale of a manly vocation and family trauma broke publishing and then movie rights records when Robert Redford bought them.
Madeline McIntosh argued that the publishing industry extends far beyond its biggest players, and that the government has focused on a tiny sliver of deals.
After the attack, writers and world leaders hailed Rushdie as a symbol of free expression. But the battle lines around his novel “The Satanic Verses” were never cleanly drawn.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the country had no part in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, but added that the prizewinning author had crossed “red lines.”
