Trade hails courage of Salman Rushdie and shares shock after New York stabbing

Members of the trade have hailed the courage of Salman Rushdie and shared their shock after the Booker-winning writer was stabbed at a literary event in New York state.

The Satanic Verses author, 75, was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua Institution on Friday (12th August) and later airlifted to hospital. His agent Andrew Wylie said Rushdie had suffered severed nerves in one arm, damage to his liver and could lose an eye. On Sunday (14th August), Wylie said Rushdie had been taken off a ventilator "so the road to recovery has begun". He added: "It will be long—the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction."

On Sunday afternoon Rushdie’s son Zafar tweeted that the author remains in critical condition but had been taken off a ventilator and was able to "say a few words". In a statement on behalf of the family, he said: "Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact." 

Rushdie was due to be interviewed on stage by Henry Reese, co-founder of a non-profit organisation that provides sanctuary to persecuted writers. Reese was left with a minor head injury following the attack.

Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder over the weekend and was remanded in custody without bail. He is accused of stabbing Rushdie at least 10 times in the face, neck and abdomen.

A statement from Jonathan Cape, which publishes Rushdie in the UK, read: “We are so relieved to hear that Salman Rushdie is recovering from the horrific and brutal attack on him in New York. Salman is one of the greatest writers and storytellers of our times. He is also a man of great courage, wisdom, dignity and resilience, as we’ve witnessed over the past few days. He is loved by so many readers and writers around the globe and he is a passionate and kind man. He stands for all the values we hold dear: freedom of speech and the courage to speak truth to power.”

The publisher added: “Salman, please keep writing your beautiful and magical books. We wish you a speedy recovery and much love from all at Cape and Vintage.”

Rushdie went into hiding for nearly a decade following the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. In 1989, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death and a bounty of more than $3m was put on the author’s head.

His former publisher Dan Franklin told The Bookseller: “In the wake of the awful attack on Salman Rushdie in New York state one of the photographs that popped up was the one of him leaving Bruce Chatwin’s funeral with Gillon Aitken behind him. Both men look sombre, shocked. That was the day that Salman first heard of the fatwa, the beginning of the dark years when he was forced to live in hiding. 

“That darkness returned last week in a scene that all of us hoped we would never see. It had been out there, lurking, for 33 years, and meanwhile Salman has gone on writing, giving readings, making speeches, almost every word a weapon in the battle for freedom of speech, against prejudice. 

“Last week’s attack brings home just how courageous a fighter Salman has been. He has never wavered, and those of us who share his values, his beliefs, who read his novels and his essays, owe him a colossal debt.”

Among Rushdie’s many achievements has been his 1981 Booker Prize win for Midnight’s Children (Vintage). In 2008 it also picked up the Best of Booker award, crowning it the greatest winner in the prize’s history.

Gaby Wood, director, of the Booker Prize Foundation, said: “Since the early 1980s, Salman Rushdie’s writing has changed the way people read in Britain, and has paved the way for us all to inhabit other worlds in new ways. The attack on him at Chautauqua is not only a cause for enormous personal concern but also an attack on our collective right to imagine. Everyone in the Booker ‘family’ is thinking of him, relieved to hear he is off the ventilator and hoping for a swift ongoing recovery.”

Publisher Liz Calder said editing Midnight’s Children at Cape alongside Rushdie’s debut Grimus and Shame “opened my eyes to the reach of his gifts and ambition”. She said: “I never doubted his courage and I hope it will continue to give him the strength to recover from this assault on his life and on the freedoms — our freedoms —  for which he has stood so steadfastly.”

HarperCollins UK c.e.o. Charlie Redmayne, whose firm was forced to defend two authors in court last year following legal challenges by oligarchs, told The Bookseller: "Anyone with an interest in writing, books, freedom of speech or simply humanity will have been pleased that Salman Rushdie has been able to live his life more normally in recent years. This savage, cowardly attack sadly shows that there are still those who would seek to destroy the right to speak or write freely. We are utterly horrified this can have happened to Salman Rushdie, and the fact it occurred at a literary event really hits home. We all hope for a quick recovery for Salman, and for Henry Reese who was also injured, and thankful for the bravery of those who stepped in to restrain the attacker. Our thoughts are with Salman and his family, his friends, and his many publishing colleagues around the world."

Society of Authors (SoA) c.e.o. Nicola Solomon said the attack had "shocked the SoA community" and said it showed the dangers writers face, referencing a "you are next" threat J K Rowling received on Twitter after sharing her support for Rushdie. 

She said: “This assault against one man was also an assault on the creative process, and on authors’ rights to express ideas and opinions, and to tell stories. Perhaps an attack like this is rare, but sadly the threats, abuse and harassment that many authors receive is not. For every high-profile death threat – like those targeted at J K Rowling only hours after the attack on Rushdie – scores of others go unreported. We condemn every type of personal attack on authors for exercising their rights to create freely – whether physical, verbal, legal or political. Our thoughts are with Rushdie and his family."

SoA chair Joanne Harris told The Bookseller: “The horrific attack on Salman Rushdie has left the literary world distressed and shaken. No one should suffer violence — or threats of violence — for making art, writing stories. As fellow authors and as human beings, this act diminishes us all.”

Many writers also hailed the author following the attack. His friend Ian McEwan said: "Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred."

Kal Penn called him a role model “for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom he’s shown incredible warmth”, while Neil Gaiman said he was "a good man and a brilliant one".