In August 2022, the writer Salman Rushdie was seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Now the author announces his memories of the incident.
In April, Salman Rushdie released his novel “Victory City.” The publication of the book was unclear after the assassination attempt in 2022 because the author's injuries were serious. Salman Rushdie has been blind in one eye since the attack. His book under the title “Knife” is scheduled to be published worldwide in German and English in 2023.
Salman Rushdie “Knife”: What is the book about?
It was important for Salman Rushdie to write the book about the events and to process the events. The publisher's statement states that it was necessary for him to write the book. It was his way of coming to grips with what was happening and responding to violence with art.
“Knife” illuminates for the first time the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, in which Salman Rushdie was injured. According to the publisher's website, it is a "powerful, deeply personal and, not least, uplifting meditation on life, love and the power of art."
In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie. The then political and religious leader called on all Muslims to kill the writer because he accused Rushdie of blasphemy in his novel “The Satanic Verses.” Since then, police protection has been part of the Indian-born author's everyday life, according to
spiegel.de
. In recent years, however, Rushdie was able to live relatively freely in his adopted home of New York, until the knife attack incident at Chautauqua Institution.
Salman Rushdie “Knife”: Simultaneously in English and German
For the publishing director of Penguin Random House, Nihar Malaviya, it is an honor to be able to publish the book “Knife”. It shows Salman Rushdie's determination to tell his story and his view of the attack. Returning to writing after such experiences impressed him.
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Salman Rushdie has lived in England since he was 14. The author has been speaking publicly on the subject of freedom of expression for years. On October 20th he will be awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The laudatory speech will be given by the writer Daniel Kehlmann, whose novel “Lichtspiel” will be discussed in the program “The Literary Quartet” on October 13th.
Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay in 1947 and studied history at Cambridge. His novel “Midnight Children” brought him worldwide fame. His works have been recognized with prestigious international awards, including the Booker Prize, and have been translated into numerous languages. In 1996 he was awarded the EU Aristeion Literary Prize for his complete works. He was knighted by the Queen in 2007.