Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie was at Central Library yesterday.  I work there.  I never got downstairs during the event, or it's preliminaries or the aftermath, but it went off without a hitch.  Some people we just freaking out.  "Why does he have to come HERE?"  One person complained " He doesn't write for children, so what is he doing here?"

I have tried to read "the Satanic Verses" the book that put Mr. Rushdie under the threat of death ( fatwa) from certain Islamic extremists.  Couldn't do it, but maybe now I will try it again.  It has been a long time and certainly, my mindset is different than it was 23 years ago when the book came out.  I remember a co-worker saying that the book wasn't all that great, but that we needed to buy it because people would want to read it.  That's what libraries do.  We provide books and information.  Censorship is not part of the Mission Statement.   When someone tries to censor what you read, you must not let them.  Intellectual Freedom , the right to read what you want without fear of punishment, the right to advance ideas, to begin discussions; that is what libraries are about.

I cannot imagine what life must be like for Salman Rushdie and his family, living under a daily threat of death simply because words committed to a page were seen as an insult.  I understand that his current book addresses this issue and that he is on a book tour promoting it.  I am proud that he chose our library as one of his stops.