The award-winning author performs at a New York gala in his first public look since he was attacked on stage final 12 months.
British author Salman Rushdie attended the New York gala in his first public look since he was practically killed by a knife assault final 12 months.
The award-winning author, a naturalized American residing in New York Metropolis for 20 years, misplaced sight in a single eye after being stabbed onstage throughout a speech on the American Arts Middle in August.
It is good to be again – versus not coming again, which was additionally potential. I am glad the bones stacked up this manner,” Rushdie informed 700 company on the American Museum of Pure Historical past on Thursday, the place he obtained a standing ovation.
He was introduced with an honorary award at an occasion hosted by PEN America, a free speech and literary freedom group of which Rushdie was previously president.
The 75-year-old man, carrying black-lens glasses over his proper eye, didn’t make his presence recognized earlier than delivering an emotional deal with.
Terrorism shouldn’t terrorize us. Violence shouldn’t maintain us again. The combat continues,” Rushdie stated in French, Spanish and English, in response to a PEN America press launch.
Rushdie lived on the run for years after Iran’s first supreme chief, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, ordered his demise for what he thought of the blasphemous nature of Rushdie’s 1988 e-book The Satanic Verses.
He has since grow to be an icon of free speech and remains to be a powerful advocate for the ability of speech.
On August 12, he was at a literary convention within the small upstate New York city of Chautauqua when a person with a knife burst onto the stage simply as Rushdie was about to start out talking.
He obtained about 10 stab wounds, and Rushdie’s literary agent Andrew Wylie reported in October that he had misplaced sight in a single eye and misplaced the power to make use of one hand.
Bystanders and guards neutralized the assailant, who was instantly arrested, charged, and imprisoned pending trial.
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old Lebanese New Jersey resident, pleaded not responsible to assault costs.
In February, shortly earlier than the discharge of his newest novel, Victory Metropolis, the author stated in his first interview for the reason that assault that he was having nice problem writing and was affected by post-traumatic stress.
On Thursday, he thanked the individuals who got here to his help in August. “If it wasn’t for these individuals, I positively wouldn’t be standing right here right this moment. I used to be a goal that day, however they had been heroes. Braveness that day belonged solely to them. I owe them my life,” Rushdie informed the gang.
PEN occasions are a well-recognized setting for Rushdie. He has participated in and co-founded the PEN World Voices Pageant many instances up to now, a world gathering of writers and interviews held throughout the PEN Gala.
