Sydney, Mar 3 : Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire's plot is "patently ridiculous conceit", says British-Indian author Salman Rushdie.

According to Rushdie's article in Britain''s Guardian newspaper, the central feature of the film - that a boy from the Mumbai slums manages to win the Indian TV version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - "beggars belief", reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

New York, February 9 : Four failed marriages have not stopped Sir Salman Rushdie from being a charmer or so it seemed after the stunning Pia Glenn was recently spotted on his arm.

The Booker prize-winning author, who parted ways with the beautiful `Top Chef' host Padma Lakshmi in 2007, was seen with Glenn, 29 years his junior, at Mansion's opening-night party.

On being questioned what should their relationship be called, Rushdie agreed to nothing less than "lucky".

"That's a good word. She's unbelievably talented. She's a show-stopper, isn't she?" the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

London, January 25 : Just two months after its opening, Sir Salman Rushdie's Manhattan restaurant has run into trouble after being bitten by the ongoing recession, according to reports.

The Booker prize-winning author's "At Vermillion" had made its presence felt as a posh addition to the restaurant scene with its fusion cuisine with both Indian and Latin American influences.

London, Jan 3: After four unsuccessful marriages, author Salman Rushdie says he has no intention of tying the knot again, but doesn't rule out the possibility of falling in love.

"I'm not saying I am never going to fall in love again but there is no need to marry," Times Online quoted him, as saying.

Nor does he want any more children.

"I'm 61, enough already," he says.

His latest project, however, is a children's book.

"When I wrote my last children's book my oldest son was 11. He's 29 now. I have another 11-year-old now who wants a book. I read him the first 15 pages and he liked it," he says.

London, Dec 30 : Author Salman Rushdie, who was once condemned to death by a former Iranian spiritual leader, has said that provoking people "is in his DNA". Rushdie's fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), was at the center of protests from Muslims in several countries. Some of the protests were violent and Rushdie faced death threats and a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran.