Author Salman Rushdie, who for nine years hid from a religious bounty on his head, is headlining a writers' conference this month at the University of North Dakota, the school announced today.
"A Conversation with Salman Rushdie" is the main event March 25, the first of five days for the school's 39th conference.
Rushdie will attend a reception afterward at the North Dakota Museum of Art and participate in a panel discussion the next day at noon.
Rushdie was forced into hiding after a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader who ordered him killed for blasphemy connected to his novel "The Satanic Verses." He lived under guard in 30 locations.
Nine years later, Iran declared that it would not support but could not rescind the fatwa.
As recently as last June, Rushdie was characterized by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Hosseini as "one of the most hated persons within the Islamic world."
Hosseini was reacting to Britain's decision to grant a knighthood to Rushdie. Hosseini said the honor put Britain "at odds with Islamic societies."
UND spokesman Peter Johnson said the school is "taking all the proper steps for security" during Rushdie's visit to Grand Forks.
