Salman Rushdie is working on a book about the attack that took his right eye from him, he said in one of his first public appearances since he was stabbed repeatedly on stage at a literary festival in upstate New York last year.
speaks in Ft Weekend Festival In Washington on Saturday, the novelist, 75, said he was still “a little battered” but “basically fine,” nearly a year after the attempt on his life.
Wearing dark right-lens glasses, Rushdie appeared at the event via video link.
“I don’t read as fast as I used to but . . . Rushdie said in a wide-ranging conversation that explored the author’s many novels, from midnight kids to Victory Cityhis most recent work that was published earlier this year.
For decades, Rushdie faced persecution for his work and lived under the threat of death.
The Satanic VersesIts first publication in 1988 sparked controversy over how it depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The book was banned in Iran and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.
After the death threat, Rushdie went into hiding, living under armed guard.
After last year’s attack, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, accused the Iranian government of inciting violence against Rushdie and criticized Tehran for “schadenfreude” over the attempt on his life.
Rushdie sneered at his critics on Saturday, saying, “If my work has enemies, they are probably the right enemies of my work.”
When asked for his advice for aspiring young writers, Rushdie replied, “I would say, do what you have to do and don’t be afraid.”
Rushdie was largely absent from the public eye last year as he recovered from the attack on his life. He made a rare personal appearance in New York last week to accept the Centenary Courage Award from PEN America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for free speech.
“There are many people in many ways now trying to put up fences around what is acceptable to do and what is not acceptable to do . . . if anything is going to lead to the death of the novel, it will be it,” Rushdie warned those present at the Financial Times festival on Saturday.
He added, “We have to say our truth in our own way and present it to the world.”
