Mumbai born novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, 74, is among the 65 individuals being awarded the title Companion of Honour on the Queen of England’s birthday.

The honour, sometimes considered a junior class of the Order of Merit, is bestowed on those known for their longstanding contribution to arts, science, medicine and government.

The honour recipients are announced two times a year, once on New Year’s and once on the Queen’s birthday.

Sir Salman was born in Bombay and attended Rugby School and Kings College in Cambridge, studying history. He started his career in advertising but is known best for his novels and he was knighted in 2007 for his contribution to literature.

Sir Salman has authored at least 14 novels, with The Satanic Verses perhaps being his most controversial work with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran announcing a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill him in 1989.

He wrote Midnight’s Children, which earned him a Booker Prize in 1981 and the book was also voted Best of the Bookers by the public in 1993 and 2008. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-

Eight Nights, The Golden House and Quichotte which were published in 2019 are some of his other prominent works.

Other current members of the Order include Sir David Attenborough, Sir Elton John, David Hockney, Sir John Major, George Osborne and Sir Paul McCartney.