Rushdie among favourites to win this year's Nobel for literature: Report

Acclaimed Mumbai-born author Rushdie, who was stabbed onstage at a literary event in New York two months ago, is tipped by bookmakers as one of the favourites to win this year's Nobel for literature

Acclaimed Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed onstage at a literary event in New York two months ago, is tipped by bookmakers as one of the favourites to win this year's Nobel prize for literature on Thursday, a media report said on Tuesday.

Rushdie, known for his feisty and defiant humour, and the author of the controversial Satanic Verses', was stabbed in the neck and stomach onstage at an event at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York in August this year.

Betting site Nicer Odds, which compares odds from a number of bookmakers, showed that the lowest odds for Rushdie winning were 13/2 on Tuesday, according to The Guardian newspaper.

This year's award will be announced on Thursday and goes to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.

The award is decided by the Swedish Academy, a group of 18 people who consist of Swedish writers, linguists, literary scholars, historians and a prominent jurist.

If he wins, the 75-year-old would become the first Indian-born author to win the prestigious honour since Rabindranath Tagore took the prize in 1913 for his profoundly sensitive collection of poems titled Gitanjali'.

The prize is the most prestigious literature award in the world, with the winner receiving GBP 1 million.

Rushdie spent years in hiding after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a 'fatwa' in 1989, calling for his death following the publication of his novel Satanic Verses.