I used to be a book burner...

Zembla, Zenda, Xanadu:
All our dream-worlds may come true.
Fairy lands are fearsome too.
As I wander far from view
Read, and bring me home to you.

This poem was written by Salman Rushdie as the dedication at the beginning of his novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Highly recommended itself (see the previous blog entry here), the novel is particularly relevant now, in the light of all the furore over Rushdie's knighthood.

Notice the acrostic in the poem, which spells the name of Rushdie's son, to whom the novel (and the poem) were directed. In both, he is trying to explain to his only child the madness which erupted around him after the fatwa was announced, and the enduring power of stories to transcend political or religious ideologies.

Why not read more about the furore surrounding Rushdie's knighthood at The Guardian's blog (commentisfree):
Freedom to Offend and I used to be a book burner (both by Inayat Bunglawala, Assistant Secretary-General at the Muslim Council of Britain)
Tender is the Knighthood
Unhelpful Outrage
Sir Salman's Long Journey
He should have realised...