Hurry to finish his novel? (7)

I believe the answer is:

rushdie

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'his novel?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'hurry to finish' is the wordplay.
'hurry' becomes 'rush' (synonyms).
'to finish' becomes 'die'.
'rush'+'die'='RUSHDIE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rushdie that I've seen before include "See 23 Across. 23 and 22 Across: Author under Islamic sentence of death for blasphemy" , "Salman -, Br. author" , "Salman -, Midnight's Children author" , "'Salman ..., author (7)'" , "Salman --, novelist" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.