He had remained discreet since his attack. For the first time since a knife attack in the United States in August which almost cost him his life, the British writer Salman Rushdie reappeared, Thursday, May 18, in public in New York during a gala of an organization for the defense of writers.
The famous novelist of Indian origin, naturalized American and who lives in New York, received an honorary award from the defense group for freedom of expression and literature, PEN America, of which he was president.
The 75-year-old intellectual, wearing glasses with a black lens over his right eye, was first photographed on the gala red carpet in the setting of the American Museum of Natural History near Central Park, in Manhattan.
His presence had not been announced and he spoke, moved, to the 700 guests of the gala.
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PEN America, an association that works for freedom of expression, has never been so “important”, said Salman Rushdie, quoted in a statement from PEN America.
“Terrorism must not terrorize us. Violence must not deter us. The struggle continues,” he proclaimed in French, Spanish and English.
A dozen stab wounds
On August 12, he was invited to a literary conference in Chautauqua, a small cultural and bucolic town in upstate New York, near Great Lake Erie.
When speaking, a young American of Lebanese origin suspected of being a sympathizer of Shiite Iran had thrown himself on him, armed with a knife, and had stabbed him a dozen times.
Spectators and guards had then mastered the assailant immediately arrested, charged and imprisoned since pending trial.
“If it hadn’t been for these people, I certainly wouldn’t be here today. I was the target that day, but they were heroes (…) I owe them my life” , launched Salman Rushdie.
His literary agent Andrew Wylie revealed in October that he had lost the sight of one eye and the use of one hand.
In February, when the release of son dernier roman “Victory City”the writer had confided to the magazine of cultural elites The New Yorker, in his first interview since his attack, to have a lot of trouble writing and to suffer from post-traumatic stress.
Adored by the elites in the West, hated by Muslim extremists in Iran or Pakistan – some were delighted with his aggression – Salman Rushdie is an icon of freedom of expression.
He has lived since 1989 under the death threat of a fatwa issued by Iran, after the publication of his book “The Satanic Verses”.
With AFP
2023-05-19 05:53:19
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