“Not The Easiest To Write”: Salman Rushdie To Author Book On Knife Attack

Mr Rushdie also told the audience that he was in good health.

British author Salman Rushdie has said that he is writing a book about the knife attack that took place on him last year in New York, as per a report in The Guardian. In a pre-recorded Zoom appearance at the Hay Literary Festival, he said, “I’m trying to write a book about the attack on me – what happened and what it means, not just about the attack, but around it.”

The award-winning author added, “It will be a relatively short book, a couple of hundred pages. It’s not the easiest book in the world to write but it’s something I need to get past in order to do anything else. I can’t really start writing a novel that’s got nothing to do with this … So I just have to deal with it.”

Mr Rushdie also told the audience that he was in good health, mentioning that he was “doing OK”. He also expressed his appreciation for the response to his most recent work, ‘Victory City’, which he had completed before the stabbing incident. “I never take anything for granted. Most people seem to like the book and that means a lot,” he continued. 

On August 12, 2022, the novelist was giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York when a man reached the stage and stabbed and punched him several times. He lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following the “brutal” attack and spent approximately two months in the hospital. 

Mr Rushdie’s attacker Hadi Matar is being held without bail in the Chautauqua County Jail in the village of Mayville. He has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and could face a lengthy prison sentence after the trial is over.