Rushdie On, Like, Critics

“…I had the chance to meet Salman Rushdie, which was really a strange experience. He has the same agents that I have. I walked into the office in London and he was just kind of there. I was just, ha ha, you're not supposed to be here. It's not every day that you just see Salman Rushdie sitting around. And we were talking, and he said, ‘So has the criticism started coming in?’ ‘Yeah.’ He's like, ‘What's it been like?’ I was, like, ‘It's been pretty good.’ ‘Well, let me just let you know that if you believe them when they say you're good, then you have to believe them when they say you're bad. So just keep that in mind.’ I was like, ‘That's actually really good advice.’ ”

- From an interview with Uzodinma Iweala, author of the acclaimed debut novel, Beasts of no Nation.