“Salman Rushdie’s Emotional Speech on Courage at Pen America Literary Gala”

«Terrorism shouldn’t scare us. Violence must not discourage us. The struggle continues»: the Anglo-Indian writer used these words Salman Rushdie in his first public appearance since nine months ago he was attacked with a knife in Chautauqua, New York State, during a convention he was invited to.

The occasion of his statements – spoken in Spanish, French and English – was the Pen America literary galawhich takes place every year at the New York Museum of Natural History near Central Park.

The great writer, 75 years old, he was the victim of an assault last August 12th, at the hands of a young American of Lebanese origin, risking his life. The attack deprived him of one eye, the right, and of the use of one hand, the left. The attacker, suspected of being a Shia Iranian sympathizer, had thrown himself at him, armed with a knife, and had stabbed him a dozen times.

Rushdie was forced to live in hiding for ten years, under guard, after the fatwa of theAyatollah Khomeini who from Iran invited Muslims to kill him. The reason was the publication of the book The Satanic Verses (The Satanic Verses).

The novelist received an honorary award from the group of defense of freedom of expression and literature of Pen America, of which he was president.

Rushdie, who wore glasses with a black lens in his right eyehad himself photographed on the red carpet of the gala and addressed the 700 guests visibly moved. Pen America, an association that works for freedom of expression, has never been more “important,” stressed Rushdie.

In February, on the occasion of the release of his latest novel Victory City (Mondadori), Rushdie had confided to the «New Yorker» magazine, in his first interview after the attack, that he had great difficulty writing and that he suffered from post-traumatic stress.