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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Salman Rushdie says he is 'over' knife attack as author reveals 'important moment' he returned to New York lecture stage where he was repeatedly stabbed
Sir Salman Rushdie says 'I'm over it' following the horrific knife attack which has now seen the crook jailed. Hadi Matar, 27, was sentenced last month to 25 years for attempted murder after he repeatedly stabbed the author on stage during a lecture in New York in 2022. Sir Salman recently told Radio 4's Today programme that he was 'pleased' the man who set out to kill him had received the maximum possible prison sentence. But he wishes to move on from the terrifying ordeal and focus on his new book coming out later this year. Speaking at the Hay Festival in Wales he said: 'It will be nice to talk about fiction again because ever since the attack, really the only thing anybody's wanted to talk about is the attack, but I'm over it.' He added that an 'important moment' came for him when he and his wife Eliza 'went back to the scene of the crime to show myself I could stand up where I fell down'. The award-winning Midnight's Children and Satanic Verses writer was left blind in one eye after the attack as well as damage to his liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm. The event had tight security, with sniffer dogs and bag searches. Hadi Matar, 27, was sentenced last month to 25 years for attempted murder after he repeatedly stabbed the author on stage during a lecture in New York in 2022 Once Sir Rushdie entered the stage to an audience of applause, he joked: 'I can't see everyone - but I can hear them.' Although he said he felt 'excellent' he added there 'were bits of me that I'm annoyed about, like not having a right eye. But on the whole, I've been very fortunate and I'm in better shape than maybe I would have expected.' Last year, the 77-year-old published a memoir called Knife about the ordeal, which he said was his way of 'fighting back'. It comes decades after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses which made him the target of death threats as some Muslims consider blasphemous for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. A short story collection called The Eleventh Hour is set to be released by the author in November.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Salman Rushdie says he is "over" knife attack
Sir Salman Rushdie says he has moved on from the knife attack which has seen his attacker jailed for attempted Matar, 27, was sentenced to 25 years last month after repeatedly stabbing Sir Salman on a New York lecture stage in Salman, who has a new book out later this year, told the Hay Festival that an "important moment" came for him when he and his wife Eliza "went back to the scene of the crime to show myself I could stand up where I fell down". "It will be nice to talk about fiction again because ever since the attack, really the only thing anybody's wanted to talk about is the attack, but I'm over it." Sir Salman recently told Radio 4's Today programme that he was "pleased" the man who tried to kill him had received the maximum possible prison Midnight's Children and Satanic Verses writer was left with life-changing injuries after the incident - he is now blind in one eye, has damage to his liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his year, Sir Salman published a book titled Knife reflecting on the event, which he has described as "my way of fighting back".The attack came 35 years after Sir Salman's controversial novel The Satanic Verses, which had long made him the target of death threats for its portrayal of the Prophet November, the author will publish a short story collection, The Eleventh Hour, his first work of fiction to be written since the stabbing. Tight security Security was tight for Sir Salman's event, with sniffer dogs present and bag checks leading to a 15-minute waved at the audience as he entered the stage and humbly gestured to them to stop applauding before joking that: "I can't see everyone - but I can hear them."He said he was feeling "excellent" although there "were bits of me that I'm annoyed about, like not having a right eye. But on the whole, I've been very fortunate and I'm in better shape that maybe I would have expected." In a wide-ranging discussion, Sir Salman also touched on US politics, declaring that "America was not in great shape". In an apparent reference to President Donald Trump, Sir Salman spoke about "the moment of hope, that image of Barack and Michelle Obama walking down the mall in DC with the crowds around them... people dancing in the streets in New York. And to go from that to the orange moment that we live in, it's, let's just say, he said he was still positive about the future."I think I suffer from the optimism disease... I can't help thinking somehow it will be alright." Free speech Speaking about free speech, he said "it means tolerating people who say things you don't like".He recalled a time when a film "in which I was the villain", made around the time of the uproar over Satanic Verses, was not classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) "because it was in a hundred ways defamatory" but he asked them to allow its release. "So they gave it a certificate... and nobody went, you know why? Lousy movie. And it taught me a lesson. Let it out and trust the audience. And that's still my view."I think we do live in a moment when people are too eager to prohibit speech they disapprove of. That's a very slippery slope" and warned young people "to think about it." When asked about the effect of AI on authors, Sir Salman said: "I don't have Chat GPT... I try very hard to pretend it doesn't exist. Someone asked it to write a couple of hundred words like me... it was terrible. And it has no sense of humour."Despite being considered one of the greatest living writers, Sir Salman joked that authors "don't even have that much money... except the two of us (him and host Erica Wagner) and those who write about child wizards... the Taylor Swift of literature," referring to JK Rowling. "Good on her." More from the Hay Festival Succession creator Jesse Armstrong is writing about rich people againJacqueline Wilson says she wouldn't return to Tracy Beaker as an adult
