Contains a discussion based on the July 1988 report by PEN International which listed 305 writers known to be imprisoned or otherwise penalised because of their writings. The most notorious case in recent times of a writer suffering for his words is that of Salman Rushdie, who has been forced into hiding because his novel Satanic Verses was decreed blasphemous by Iran's aged and autocratic leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini. Additionally, reviewed are Salman Rushdie’s other novels, such as Midnight’s Children and Shame.