Salman Rushdie is an author that most people know in one way or another. He is the winner of the Booker Prize (what has been called the British equivalent of the Pulitzer), he has been appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II, and has had a fatwÄ issued against him for his book The Satanic Verses. His latest book is Luka and the Fire of Life, a fantasy tale about a boy whose father is sick and it is necessary for the boy â Luka â to travel into a fantasy world and capture some of this âfire of lifeâ to cure his father; but he is up against unbeatable odds: no one has ever made through this fantasy world and survived; no one has ever managed to capture the fire of life; and no one has ever made it back to the real world with the fire of life. The book was written for his second son, after he originally wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories, for his first son; theyâd each asked for a story they could read and enjoy.

At a recent signing at the wonderful Kepler's Books and Magazines, Rushdie took a moment to do an interview with BookBanter and Kaye Cloutman of the San Francisco Book Review. Angela from Kepler's Books and Magazines also provided a question during the interview. Rushdie talks about how and why he became an author, the steps he needed to take to write a children's fantasy novel, as well as some advice for writer's living under oppression.

Many thanks to Angela and everyone at Kepler's Books and Magazines for helping to organize the interview, and for being so accommodating. Also thanks to Jared Emerson-Johnson for cleaning up the interview and making it sound awesome.

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