Rushdie joins Emory

Recently, when Salman Rushdie was in Vassar College where he said that he felt like teaching and giving back to the community what he had learnt, I guessed he was ready for a teaching stint. And my hunch was right. He has not only sold his papers to Emory, he has also joined it as a faculty member. Here are bits from Emory University's press release:

"Salman Rushdie, one of the world's most celebrated contemporary
authors, will join the faculty of Emory University as Distinguished
Writer in Residence and place his archive at Emory's Woodruff Library.

"Salman Rushdie is not only one of the foremost writers of our
generation, he is also a courageous champion of human rights and
freedom," says Emory President James Wagner.

"The teaching appointment of Salman Rushdie, and the significance of
his archive, underscore the importance of the humanities in addressing
the global issues of our day," says Emory Provost Earl Lewis. Emory
recently designated creativity and the arts as one of its signature
initiatives for the future, recognizing the critical role of the arts
in sustaining free societies and in confronting oppression."

"This is Rushdie's first extended relationship with a university. His
position as Distinguished Writer in Residence is a five-year
appointment in the English Department, beginning in the spring of
2007. During each of these five years he will be teaching for at least
four weeks, lead a graduate seminar, participate in undergraduate
classes, advise students, engage in symposia and deliver a public
lecture.

"Rushdie began his relationship with Emory in 2004 when he delivered
the Ellmann Lectures, named for the eminent literary scholar Richard
Ellmann. Though not yet 20 years old, the biennial Ellmann lectures
have become one of the most distinguished literary lecture series in
North America. Seamus Heaney, Mario Vargas Llosa, A.S. Byatt and David
Lodge are a few of Rushdie's fellow alumni in the Ellmann series.

"In placing his papers at Emory, Rushdie is joining an elite group of
modern masters. "Emory has become one of the major literary archives
in North America," says Dana Gioia, chair of the National Endowment
for the Arts. Among Emory's research collections are the personal and
literary papers of such modern literary giants as the late British
poet laureate Ted Hughes and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney.

"The Rushdie papers will provide the primary resource for future
generations seeking to understand an artist at the center of our era,"
says Stephen Enniss, director of Emory's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Books Library. Included in the archive are Rushdie's private journals
detailing life under the fatwa, as well as personal correspondence,
notebooks, photographs and manuscripts of all of his writings,
including two early unpublished novels."

Here's more from the Mumbai Mirror.