Salman Rushdie Discusses "Luka and the Fire of Life"

Salman Rushdie talked about his new novel Luka and the Fire of Life with a sold-out crowd in Washington DC in November 2010. These are highlights from Salman Rushdie's remarks on children's novels, vampires and fatwas.

Rushdie started in children's novels 20 years ago with Haroun and the Sea of Stories for his oldest son who wanted his father to write something he could read. Naturally, his younger son wanted a work of his own so he advised his father to start writing series not books. Both Luka and the Fire of Life and Haroun take their titles from his son's middle names. Set in the same magical world, they relate the adventures of a storyteller and his sons with quests for kids and wordplay for adults. Rushdie confirmed that writing for children has been particularly enjoyable because they write him better letters than adults. He cited one little girl who demanded that he reply to her at once because she had to decide between becoming a writer or a world leader.

In Luka and the Fire of Life, twelve-year old Luka travels to the Magic World to steal the Fire of Life to save his father Rashid who has fallen into a deep sleep. Accompanied by a bear named Dog and a dog named Bear, Luka must save Rashid before he gets absorbed by his ghostly double. Much of the fun and danger comes in passing through the Land of the Badly Behaved Gods whom Luka describes as worn-out super heroes. Rushdie singles out the Aztec gods in particular among these cast-off deities. Once their followers stopped bringing them human sacrifices, they had to become vampires to feed themselves.

Turning to real world dangers, Rushdie commented on the fatwa issued on him in 1989 following publication of The Satanic Verses. As he put it, the death sentence was good for his sense of humor. He started writing happy endings because he became extremely interested in happy endings. When asked to make various political predictions, Rushdie reflected on his days as a history student and dismissed futurology as the science of being wrong about the future.

Salman Rushdie is the author of 10 novels including Midnight's Children which won the Booker Prize and the Booker of all Bookers. Luka and the Fire of Life is available from Random House for $25 in hardcover. It's a children's novel adults can enjoy too.