We’re looking forward to Salman Rushdie’s appearance here Thursday, November 3. Between the pioneering use of magical realism, the nods to Günter Grass and Gabriel García Márquez, the Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa and more than a few legendary books like Midnight’s Children and The Moor’s Last Sigh, Rushdie is a writer who commands uncommon respect.

But then we stumbled upon this Salman Rushdie interview from Powell’s City of Books, where he elaborates on why it’s OK to love both The Simpsons and The Iliad, and we saw a whole new side of the author.

Meanwhile in other marginally Simpsons-related news, Harry Shearer—the voice of Ned Flanders, Montgomery Burns, Smithers and a host of other characters—will be here Tuesday, September 20 for our Punch Lines and Politics panel.