Salman Rushdie, the renowned Indian-born novelist, will be publishing a memoir detailing his 2022 stabbing in New York City. The memoir, titled “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” is set to be released on April 16, 2024, according to book publisher Penguin Random House.
Rushdie, who had been forced into hiding for years after Iran issued a fatwa calling for his death due to his writing, expressed the importance of writing this memoir as a way to reclaim control over the events that transpired and respond to violence with art. The author’s public appearances have been limited since the attack.
At 76 years old, Rushdie received the “Freedom to Publish” award from the British Book Awards in May. The attack, which took place during a lecture in New York state, left Rushdie blind in one eye and impaired the use of one of his hands. The perpetrator, a Shi’ite Muslim American from New Jersey, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault.
Despite the traumatic incident, Rushdie managed to release a new novel titled “Victory City” just six months after the attack. Throughout his career, the author has faced death threats due to his fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses,” which was banned in several countries with large Muslim populations for its allegedly blasphemous content upon its publication in 1988.
Rushdie’s troubles began when Iran’s supreme leader at the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for Muslims to kill him. Although Iran’s pro-reform government distanced itself from the fatwa in the late 1990s, the threat against Rushdie’s life persisted and the fatwa was never officially lifted. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeini’s successor, even declared the fatwa to be “irrevocable.”
Salman Rushdie’s memoir promises to provide readers with a deeply personal account of his stabbing and its aftermath, as well as shed light on the ongoing impact of his controversial novel and the persistent threats he has faced throughout his life.