Last night I saw on the news that Salman Rushdie had been attacked at a literary event in New York State. He was sitting on the stage waiting to start his discussion, when a man ran up to him and stabbed him multiple times. He is in hospital on a ventilator now * with serious injuries to his head and abdomen and may lose an eye. It’s shocking.
The incident reminded me that Heather and I saw him when we were at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2019; here is an extract from that day’s blog.
“We had excellent seats right in the middle near the front, and right in front of us was the shiny bald pate of Salman Rushdie, who was ushered in at the last minute. I was glad that no Iranian Islamic hardliners arrived to carry out the fatwa against him (which has never been lifted) because Heather and I would no doubt have felt obliged to save him.”
When I wrote that I didn’t think that it would actually happen. I think that Rushdie came out of hiding after about 10 years, but he must have lived with the possibility that this might happen the whole time. I think the attack was cowardly and disgraceful, and also a terrible attack on free speech.
* next day update - I’m glad to hear that he is now off the ventilator and recovering.
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