The author of the novel 'Satanic Verses' is Salman Rushdie, a British Indian novelist and essayist. Rushdie's work has been praised for its boldness and imagination, and his novel 'Satanic Verses' was the recipient of the 1988 Whitbread Award for Best Novel. The novel was also controversial due to its perceived blasphemous content, leading to death threats against Rushdie and a fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.