Salman Rushdie will be awarded The PEN/Pinter Prize London on October 09, 2014. The The PEN/Pinter Prize is awarded annually to a writer who shows a fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.

Salman Rushdie is the author of more than a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction and an active advocate for free speech. His 1981 his novel Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize, but it was his novel The Satanic Verses that brought him international fame.

Maureen Freely, Chair of the judging committee, said, “This prize is English PEN’s way of thanking Salman Rushdie not just for his books and his many years of speaking out for freedom of expression, but also for his countless private acts of kindness. When he sees writers unjustly vilified, prosecuted, or forced into exile, he takes a personal interest.”

In a statement, Salman Rushdie said that he was honored to receive the award. “The work of PEN, both in promoting the best of world literature and in opposing abuses of freedom, continues to be vitally important, and I’m proud to have been a part of that effort in England as well as the United States,” Salman Rushdie said, according to the PEN website.

Previous recipients of The PEN/Pinter Prize include David Hare, Hanif Kureishi, Tom Stoppard and Carol Ann Duffy.