Facts: Salman Rushdie
Born in 1947 in Bombay, India, in a Muslim family.
Raised in the UK, educated in Cambridge.
Worked in advertising before he had his literary breakthrough with “Midnattsbarnen” in 1980. The book won several literary awards, including the Booker Prize. Has written twelve novels, the latest, “Quixotte”, came out in 2019.
He was knighted in 2007.
A 24-year-old man from New Jersey has been arrested, suspected of jumping on stage and attacking the author at least once in the throat and once in the abdomen. An AP reporter who was at the scene writes that the man punched or stabbed Rushdie ten to fifteen times before the attack was called off.
Martin Haskell, a doctor who was at the scene and rushed to help 75-year-old Rusdhie, described the injuries as serious but possible to recover from.
The author was then transported by ambulance helicopter for treatment. Several world leaders expressed disgust at the act.
Rushdie underwent surgery in the afternoon, local time. A couple of hours later, at 01:00 Swedish time, his agent Andrew Wylie came up with an injury update where he described it as he had no good news.
He then stated, according to several media outlets, that Rushdie is being cared for on a ventilator.
“Salman will likely lose an eye; the nerves in his arm are damaged; and his liver hit and damaged,” Wylie describes.
World leaders express support
“For 33 years, Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. Hate and barbarism have just hit him, cowardly. His fight is ours and universal. Today, more than ever, we stand by his side,” writes French President Emmanuel Macron on Twitter.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also took part Twitter.
“Horrified that Sir Salman Rushdie has been hacked while exercising a right that we should never stop defending,” Johnson wrote.
Salman Rushdie. Stock image. Raised an outcry
British-Indian Rushdie became world famous when his novel “The Satanic Verses” was published in the autumn of 1988. It partly touched on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, which caused an outcry in parts of the Muslim world. Rushdie was threatened with death, a threat that has continued ever since.
He now lives in New York and his intended appearance was part of a series of lectures at Chautauqua, on Lake Erie in northwestern New York state.