British author Salman Rushdie won the Best of the Booker Prize on Thursday to mark the 40th anniversary of one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards.

• Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize in 1981, and the India-born writer was hot favourite to take the special award decided by the public in an online poll.

• The 61-year-old, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses outraged many Muslims and prompted death threats against him, also won the 25th anniversary Booker Prize in 1993

“Marvellous news!” said Rushdie, who was in the US on a book tour and could not accept his trophy in London.

“I’m absolutely delighted and would like to thank all those readers around the world who voted for Midnight’s Children,” he added in a statement.

• Victoria Glendinning, chair of the panel who drew up a shortlist, said: “The readers have spoken in their thousands. And we do believe that they have made the right choice.”

• But there was some criticism of the award, partly because the choice was narrowed to just six nominees.

It’s an artificial exercise, simply because the general public only got to pick from six of the previous winners, said

• Around 8,000 people from around the world took part in the online poll, and Midnight’s Children won 36% of votes

• At least half the voters were below 35, and the largest age group was 25-34, a reflection of the ongoing interest in quality fiction amongst readers of all ages, organisers said

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