A view of the Chautauqua Institution where Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage at an event in New York, U.S., August 12, 2022. Reuters/Lindsay DeDario
New York: Salman Rushdie, the novelist who spent years in hiding after death threats, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on Friday and airlifted to a hospital, police said. After hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday evening.
Rushdie, 75, was being introduced to give a talk at western New York's Chautauqua Institution when a man rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist. A New York State Police trooper providing security at the event arrested the attacker.
Rushdie, who was born in Bombay, now Mumbai, before moving to the United Kingdom, has long faced death threats for his fourth novel, "The Satanic Verses." It was banned in many countries upon its 1988 publication.
Rushdie became a US citizen in 2016 and lives in New York City.
