Visitors to Coe College: Salman Rushdie

Recently, Coe College was honored to have Salman Rushdie visit campus and give a speech.

Salman Rushdie was born in India in 1947, and used that nation as the setting for many of his early works. He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including a Knighthood in the United Kingdoms. 

During his speech, he made three comments in particular which stood out to me. The first is that a writer is a servant of their work, and they must use their talents to tell a story, not to make a point (though hopefully they should be able to do both). He also advised that writers write the books they have to write, rather than just writing books for money or prestige because "even if everyone stopped writing books today, there would still be too many books". 

Outside the bounds of writing though, he was asked about his thoughts on freedom of speech as it related to hate speech. He stated that, while he lived in the United Kingdoms, there were laws in place which punished those who committed acts of hate speech, and he thought them wise and fair. However, upon spending more time in America, he decided that banning hate speech was unwise, because if it is spoken it can be brought to the light and dealt with, rather than festering in the darkness.

(more information found on his Goodreads profile)