3 days ago
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.
