Salman Rushdie describes Women's Prize for Fiction as a 'marketing tool' and says it puts women in a 'ghetto'

Critical eye: 'Irreverence is an excellent policy for a writer,' says Rushdie

By Sherna Noah, Press Association Senior Entertainment Correspondent

Author Sir Salman Rushdie has dismissed the Women's Prize For Fiction as a "marketing tool".

The Man Booker Prize winner, 70, said that an award specifically for female authors was "unnecessary" and puts them in a "ghetto".