Khattam-Shud,' he said slowly, 'is the Arch-Enemy of all Stories, even of language itself. He is the Prince of Silence and the Foe of Speech. And because everything ends, because dreams end, stories end, life ends, at the finish of everything we use his name. "It's finished," we tell one another, "it's over. Khattam-Shud: The End.

Though he enjoys writing Salman Rushdie says that he would have become an actor if his writing career had not been successful. S. "In the South.

He is said to combine magical realism with historical fiction; his work is concerned with the many connections disruptions and migrations between East and West. In 2008 The Times ranked him thirteenth on its list of the fifty greatest British writers since 1945.