The author talks about his first fiction published since the 2022 attack that nearly killed him; his own immigrant experience in the U.S.; and what happens when freedom of speech dies.
Salman Rushdie recently turned up at a McNally Johnson bookstore near South Street Seaport in Manhattan. « It’s actually not particularly close to where I live, but I come here a lot », he said.
He was browsing for his own books. His newest one, « The Eleventh Hour », is his 23rd – a collection of short stories and novellas.
Life has changed since the 2022 attack that nearly killed him. « I think what has changed is, for public-facing things, then there has to be security in a way that there wasn’t for 20 years », he said.
On August 12, 2022, Rushdie was on stage in Chautauqua, N.Y., ready to speak, ironically about America as a safe haven for writers. A man lunged at him with a knife.
His account of the attack, « Knife », was published in 2024: « I raise my left hand in self-defense. He plunges the knife into it. . After that there are many blows, to my neck, to my chest, to my eye, everywhere. I feel my legs give way, and I fall. »
Rushdie lost the sight in his right eye. « I can still read », he said, « but I do find that I use iPads in a way that I never used to. Because there’s light, and because I can adjust the size of the type. So, I never, ever, read a book on an iPad, but now I do. »
His left hand and liver were badly damaged, but he lived, which he considers « a miracle. »
In May of this year, Rushdie’s attacker, Lebanese-American Hadi Matar, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors argued he was acting on the fatwa, the 1989 order by Iran’s leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini, to kill the author, claiming passages in his fourth novel, « The Satanic Verses », insulted Islam.
Recognized just for his fiction before, suddenly Rushdie was world famous (to some, infamous) for the fatwa.
