Rushdie's "Nice Gig"

The increasing public appearances of Salman Rushdie are, no doubt, the publicity machine warm-up before the release of his Shalimar The Clown. Here he is at the Arts & Ideas Festival in New Haven, joking about being "currently unemployed", likening the chance to speak to "a nice gig" and calling the audience's decision to hear an author speak "rather strange".

Oddly enough, the article refrains from mentioning whether Mrs Rushdie was present and, if so, what she was wearing.