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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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SALMAN RUSHDIE: We are what
one could call the storytelling

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SALMAN RUSHDIE: We are what
one could call the storytelling

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animal.

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We are the only
creature on the Earth

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that does this unusual thing
of telling each other stories

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in order to try and understand
the kind of creature

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that we are.

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When a child is born, of
course, the first thing

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the child requires
is nourishment

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and safety and love.

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When those things are
met, almost the next thing

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that the child asks
for is tell me a story.

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Even when I was a young boy,
I said I want to be a writer.

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I had no plan B. So it's
been one of my great fortunes

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in life to be able
to do the thing which

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was the only thing
I ever wanted to do

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MAN: Ladies and
gentlemen, Salman Rushdie.

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[APPLAUSE]

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MAN: The winner of this year's
Booker Prize is Salman Rushdie.

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[APPLAUSE]

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MAN: Winner of PEN/Allen
Lifetime Achievement Award.

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WOMAN: Sir Salman Rushdie
was knighted today.

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WOMAN: Winner of the
Best of the Booker.

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WOMAN: Winner of the
Best of the Booker.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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SALMAN RUSHDIE: I've been
doing this a long time.

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I published my
first book in 1975.

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So I have a bit of a track
record here, 20 books.

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I hope I've learned
something along the way.

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If that can be
communicated, then it's

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If that can be
communicated, then it's

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worth doing, you know,
because maybe it'll

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just give you some
shortcuts, which

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I had to find out the hard way.

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A lot of the skill
of the writer comes

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from your understanding
of who you are

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and what you need
to say to the world.

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I think my way of doing things
is different from others

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because it draws on cultures
from around the world

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from my country of
origin, which is India,

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through Britain to
the United States.

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through Britain to
the United States.

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I've spent my life in
those three countries.

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And it gives me an
international perspective,

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which I hope will be
different than other people.

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I would say whoever
you are tuning in,

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you must be somebody for
whom books are important.

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Many writers, I would
say most writers,

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are born out of readers.

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If you want to make
that transition

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from one side of the
page to the other

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from being the reader
to being the author,

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then maybe this will
give you some signposts

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then maybe this will
give you some signposts

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of how to make that journey.

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I'm really excited
to be here to do this

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because I felt that I was
being given the opportunity

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to do something I've
never done before,

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which is to talk about language,
to talk about character,

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to talk about form, to
talk about everything

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there is in the art
of being a writer.

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I think the thing that
I would just like to say

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is first of all a warning and
secondly an encouragement.

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The warning is that it
doesn't come easily.

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The warning is that it
doesn't come easily.

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It took me 12 or 13 years of
not being successful before I

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was at all successful.

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So you have to have a kind
of absolute determination

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and drive that this
is who you want

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to be and to hold to that
in spite of disappointments

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and reverses.

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So that's-- that's the warning.

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The joy is that when you
do write something good,

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it's an incredible
exhilaration, you know.

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it's an incredible
exhilaration, you know.

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You really feel that
you have, first of all,

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done something for yourself.

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You've done the, you know,
the gift of self-expression.

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If you have managed to do
that, then it makes you happy.

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It should make you proud.

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I hope it will make you proud.

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And-- and the joy of the
life of a writer I think

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is not to be underestimated.

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I'm Salman Rushdie, and
this is my MasterClass.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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