Category Archives: Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie to publish first work of fiction since 2022 stabbing

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The author, who lost an eye as a result of the attack, tells Lviv BookForum he is working on a trilogy of novellas

Salman Rushdie, who survived a stabbing attack in 2022 that cost him an eye, is writing a new work of fiction, he has told the audience at Lviv BookForum.

The author’s new work will comprise three novellas, each of about 70 pages, and each relating to one of “the three worlds in my life: India and England and America. And they all in some way consider the idea of an ending.”

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Salman Rushdie stabbing suspect rejects plea deal over terrorism charge

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Agreement would have shortened prison term but exposed alleged attacker to a federal terrorism-related charge

The man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie in 2022 rejected a plea deal on Tuesday that would have shortened his state prison term but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge, the suspect’s lawyer said.

Hadi Matar, 26, has been held without bail since Rushdie’s attack, in which he is accused of stabbing the acclaimed author more than a dozen times and blinding him as he was onstage, about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.

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‘I can’t explain it’: Salman Rushdie says his survival in knife attack was a miracle

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Despite his lack of faith, the author believes ‘something happened that was not supposed to happen’ on the day he was attacked

Salman Rushdie has revealed an abiding sense that his survival after a brutal knife attack two years ago was a miracle, in spite of his lack of spiritual faith. “I do feel that something happened that was not supposed to happen and I have no explanation for it,” Rushdie said this weekend before the publication of Knife, his account of the incident.

“I certainly don’t feel that some hand reached down from the sky and guarded me,” but it still presents a contradiction, he admits, “for one who doesn’t believe.”

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Trial of Salman Rushdie’s attacker postponed because of author’s memoir

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Rushdie’s book about the incident will be published in April, but the delay ‘will not change the ultimate outcome’ of the trial says district attorney

The trial of the man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie has been postponed because of the publication of the author’s memoir about the attack.

A lawyer representing Hadi Matar, who was charged with attacking Rushdie on stage in New York state in 2022, successfully petitioned judge David Foley to delay the trial shortly before it was due to begin on 8 January.

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Salman Rushdie makes first public appearance since attack, praising ‘heroes’ who saved him

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A surprise speaker at the Pen America gala, the author said ‘if it had not been for these people, I most certainly would not be standing here’

Salman Rushdie has made his first public appearance since he was stabbed and lost sight in one eye after being attacked at a literary event, joking that it was “nice to be back – as opposed to not being back, which was also an option”.

Rushdie was a surprise attendee at the Pen America gala on Thursday night in New York. The author was greeted with a standing ovation according to the New York Times. After his remarks about being back, he said he was “pretty glad the dice rolled this way”.

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Met police urged to prosecute Iranian accused of backing Rushdie fatwa

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Officers are reviewing a dossier accusing Sayed Ataollah Mohajerani, who lives in London, of encouraging terrorism

The Metropolitan police is being urged to crack down on Iranian terrorism in the UK by prosecuting a former senior Iranian government official accused of advocating the fatwa against Sir Salman Rushdie.

The Metropolitan police has been studying a legal dossier accusing Sayed Ataollah Mohajerani, who lives in Britain, of encouraging terrorism contrary to the 2006 Terror Act. He denies the claims.

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Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent

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Full extent of injuries from ‘brutal attack’ on Satanic Verses author in New York state in August revealed

Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after the attack he suffered while preparing to deliver a lecture in New York state two months ago, his agent has confirmed.

The 75-year-old author, whose received death threats from Iran in the 1980s after his novel The Satanic Verses was published, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he came on stage to give a talk on artistic freedom at the Chautauqua Institution on 12 August.

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Leïla Slimani: ‘Attack on Salman Rushdie shows why we must not censor ourselves’

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The bestselling author fears she too could be a target but says terrorists cannot be allowed to win

The bestselling author Leïla Slimani says the knife attack on Salman Rushdie has left her and other writers afraid, but that they have a “duty” to keep making public appearances and resist censoring themselves, despite the dangers.

The French-Moroccan writer, whose novels include Adèle, Lullaby and The Country of Others and is Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of French language and culture, said defending her freedom as a writer “feels even more important than before” and was an act of resistance.

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Salman Rushdie: writers gather in New York to read author’s works in solidarity

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Event organized by Pen America champions freedom to write after novelist survived assassination attempt last week

Crowds gathered near the steps of the New York Public Library in midtown Manhattan on Friday morning, as writers read works by the novelist Salman Rushdie, who survived an assassination attempt in western New York last week.

The event, Stand With Salman; Defend the Freedom to Write, was organized by Pen America, the library and Rushdie’s publisher, Penguin Random House.

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Salman Rushdie attack was unjustifiable, says Pakistan’s Imran Khan

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In a wide-ranging Guardian interview, the former prime minister says he understands anger The Satanic Verses created ‘but you can’t justify what happened’

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has condemned the attack on Salman Rushdie, describing it as “terrible” and “sad”, and saying that while the anger of the Islamic world at Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses was understandable, it could not justify the assault.

Khan also said he expected Afghan women to “assert their rights” in the face of Taliban restrictions in a Guardian interview in which he sought to moderate his reputation as a firebrand. He is fighting for his political survival after being ousted from office in April. Khan says his staff and followers are being persecuted and intimidated and he is battling eight-year-old charges of illicit campaign financing that could lead to him being banned from politics.

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Iran denies role in Salman Rushdie attack but claims author is to blame

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Foreign ministry spokesperson blames author and supporters after stabbing that left him with ‘life-changing’ injuries

Iran has denied having any role in the attack on Salman Rushdie but claimed the author had only himself to blame for crossing a “red line” over Islam in his writings.

Rushdie’s life was reported to be out of danger but he was said to have sustained “life-changing” injuries after being stabbed 10 times when he was speaking at an event on Friday in Chautauqua, New York.

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Moderator describes ‘tragic irony’ and ‘horror’ as violence on Rushdie unfolded

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Ralph Henry Reese, co-founder of project that offers exiled writers refuge, says attack should serve as wake up call – and call to action

Moments before Salman Rushdie was nearly murdered at a public event in western New York on Friday, he had signed up to become a roving envoy for writers in mortal peril, agreeing to travel across the US to encourage cities to provide asylum and protection for artists in need.

The bitter irony – that within minutes of having made this pledge Rushdie was himself stabbed 10 times on stage – was revealed by the event’s moderator, who was also injured in the assault.

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Salman Rushdie ‘road to recovery has begun’ but ‘will be long,’ agent says

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Author is off ventilator and able to talk after suffering stab wounds to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh in New York attack

Salman Rushdie’s “road to recovery has begun” but “will be long” after his stabbing in western New York late last week, the novelist’s agent has said.

“The injuries are severe,” the agent, Andrew Wylie, said Sunday in an email to the Guardian, alluding to stab wounds that the author suffered to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh two days earlier. “But his condition is headed in the right direction.”

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Salman Rushdie attack: suspect pleads not guilty to attempted murder charge

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Suspect from New Jersey is accused by prosecutors of ‘preplanned’ attack on author in New York before being remanded without bail

The man suspected of stabbing the novelist Salman Rushdie at a literary festival in western New York pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday.

District attorney Jason Schmidt alleged on Saturday that Hadi Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. “This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie,” Schmidt alleged.

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Rushdie attack prompts questions over security at New York event

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Suspect had a ticket for Chautauqua event but some say protections should have been enhanced given sensitivies

A day after the bloody attack on Salman Rushdie in western New York, questions are being asked about how the perpetrator gained untrammeled access to the event with apparently minimal security precautions.

Rushdie, 75, was attacked at 10.47am on Friday, moments after he had sat down on stage in the Chautauqua Institution, a historic community of artists and thinkers about 15 miles south of Lake Erie. The auditorium, which accommodates about 4,000 people, was two-thirds full.

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Salman Rushdie attack: Iranians react with mixture of praise and concern

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Praise for attack on writer targeted by decades-old fatwa comes as some fear incident will leave Iran more isolated

Iran has reacted cautiously to the attack on Salman Rushdie, with some citizens offering praise for the brutal stabbing, others claiming it harmed free speech, and several senior officials claiming it was a conspiracy to damage Iran’s global image.

Nuclear talks between the US and Iran were cited as a reason for the assault, which has left the acclaimed author on a ventilator in a New York hospital. Several state-aligned news organisations, meanwhile, linked the fatwa issued by late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini to the violent attack 33 years later.

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Terror and blood shatter tranquil arts festival after attack on Salman Rushdie

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Witnesses describe screams as people rushed to render aid to the novelist and subdue his assailant

• Salman Rushdie: author in surgery after being stabbed in New York – live

The Chautauqua summer arts festival in upstate New York is normally a calm and pleasant affair, drawing thousands of literary-minded people eager to commune with their favorite writers.

That changed dramatically on Friday, when the famed novelist Salman Rushdie, who had just walked on to a stage to give a lecture, was stabbed by a man wielding a knife – transforming the faculty-lounge atmosphere into a blood-spattered scene.

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Salman Rushdie is on ventilator and may lose an eye after attack, agent says – as it happened

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Here are more reactions on Rushdie’s stabbing from those in the writing community, from Maya Yang for the Guardian:

Journalists, writers and celebrities reacted with shock and horror after author Salman Rushdie was attacked onstage at an event in New York state on Friday.

Rushdie was attacked as he was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, according to witnesses. Police later said he had been taken to hospital with an apparent stabbing wound to the neck.

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A tsunami of outrage: Salman Rushdie and The Satanic Verses

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The writer had no idea his novel would unleash such anger and become a litmus test of freedom of expression

When Salman Rushdie wrote his novel The Satanic Verses in September 1988, he thought its many references to Islam might cause some ripples.

“I expected a few mullahs would be offended, call me names, and then I could defend myself in public,” Rushdie would tell an interviewer much later.

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Salman Rushdie: timeline of the novelist’s career

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The critically acclaimed writer rose to fame in 1981 and later received death threats for The Satanic Verses

Sir Salman Rushdie has been attacked and stabbed in the neck while appearing at an event in New York.

Here is a timeline of his controversial, critically acclaimed career:

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