Crowd Cheers On Salman Rushdie At NYPL

A crowd of Salman Rushdie’s friends and supporters gathered at the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue Friday morning for an hour-long rally dedicated to the Indian-born author, who is still recovering after being brutally attacked on stage as he was preparing to speak at an event in upstate New York a week ago, the Associated Press reported.

“When a would-be murderer plunged a knife into Salman Rushdie’s neck, he pierced more than just the flesh of a renowned writer,” said Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of PEN America, a nonprofit in support of free speech that hosted the New York City event with Penguin Random House, the library and House of SpeakEasy. Guests including Irish fiction writer Colum McCann, Iranian poet Roya Hakakian and American journalist Gay Talese, among many others, offered up personal stories and read excerpts of Rushdie’s work. He formerly served as PEN’s president and has been a distinguished writer in residence at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute since 2015.

On August 12, Rushdie was stabbed repeatedly at the Chautauqua Institution and later underwent surgery, according to the AP, which reported that the author was considered “likely to lose” an eye in addition to having suffered liver damage and “severed nerves” in one arm. The attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, was arrested and a day later, Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and could speak.

At the NYPL, British writer and journalist Hari Kunzru read lines from the opening of “The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie’s fourth novel, published in 1988. The book — which draws inspiration from the Islamic prophet Muhammad — won praise, but also stirred intense controversy. A year after its publication, Iran’s then-leader issued a call for Rushdie to be killed. A bounty of more than $3 million reportedly still looms over the author’s head.

Other remarks at the Friday morning rally drew a connection between the recent stabbing and what was described as an atmosphere of censorship. “At a time when book and curriculum bans are spreading like forest fires across this country, when lies and disinformation are engulfing our politics, we cannot hope for the best, we cannot look away, we cannot falter,” Nossel said. “We need to fight with vigor as if all our freedoms depended on it — because they do.”

Short story author Jeffrey Eugenides recalled an instance in his 20’s when he left a note with Rushdie’s mother-in-law after attempting to pay Rushdie an unannounced visit in London, only to find he wasn’t home. “That was the world we used to live in,” he said. “A world where the only craziness that might be visited upon a writer came in the form of a young, over-exuberant reader who showed up at his doorstep. That world was called civilization.”

Multiple speakers directed their comments to Rushdie, who they said was likely tuning in for the event via a livestream online. “You are a hero and have paid a terrible price,” said English journalist Tina Brown. Many quoted from Rushdie’s own written works. “I record, but I’m not exactly passive,” said Talese, reading from Rushdie’s novel “The Golden House.” “I think I alter, possibly I may even invent.”

Some invoked Rushdie’s words to paint a picture of the implications of the attack. “If the creative artist worries he will still be free tomorrow, then he will not be free today,” said American writer A.M. Homes, quoting a 2012 lecture delivered by Rushdie.