In his first television interview since the stabbing incident two years ago, during which he lost the sight in one eye and the use of one hand, British author Salman Rushdie recounted how the man with the knife was the last thing his right eye ever saw. Rushdie explained that his first thought upon seeing the man who would stab him on stage in August 2022 was to say, "So, it’s you. Go ahead." The Indian-American British-born author expressed that it felt like something was emerging from a distant past, trying to pull him back in time.
Describing the moment while reading from his upcoming memoir titled "Knife: Reflections After an Attempted Murder," he stated he was sitting on the right side of the stage, and his attacker was literally the last thing his right eye would see. He continued: "I saw the man in a black outfit running toward me from the right side of the seating area, dressed in black, with a black face mask. He was coming at me like a speeding rocket." Rushdie added, "I admit that I sometimes imagined my killer appearing in another public forum and attacking me this way. So, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this murderous figure rushing towards me was: 'So, it’s you. Go ahead,'” according to The Guardian.
It is noted that the British author of Indian descent, born to Muslim parents 75 years ago in India, lost sight in one eye and can no longer use one hand after the attack where he was stabbed in the neck and torso while ascending the stage at the Chautauqua Institute in New York in 2022, to deliver a lecture on artistic freedom, when a young man named Hadi Matar, who was suspected of being connected to the Revolutionary Guard, attacked him, although Matar later denied it during his trial.
Rushdie lived for years under a death threat with a bounty on his head and spent nine years in hiding under British police protection after Iranian leader "Ruhollah Khomeini" issued a fatwa calling for his death in February 1989 for releasing the novel "The Satanic Verses." Last June, Rushdie announced that he was working on the memoir during a pre-recorded appearance on Zoom at the Hay Festival.
"Knife," published by Penguin, consists of 224 pages and is Rushdie's first book since the attack, which he described as "a necessary book for me, as it’s a way to take responsibility for what happened, and to respond to violence with art." His latest novel, "Victory City," was published in February 2023, although it was written before the attack. He previously published a memoir in 2012 titled "Joseph Anton," about the time he spent in hiding after the release of "The Satanic Verses."
Rushdie has written 15 novels and many nonfiction works, and he has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times, winning the award in 1981 for "Midnight's Children." He also won the Booker of Bookers Prize in 1994 and the Best Book Award in 2008, honoring the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the award.
