AFP — British author Salman Rushdie attended a New York gala on Thursday night time in his first public look since a knife assault that just about took his life final yr.
The award-winning novelist, a naturalized American who has lived in New York for 20 years, misplaced sight in a single eye after being stabbed on stage in August whereas talking at a US arts heart.
On Thursday, he was given an honorary award at an occasion hosted by PEN America, a bunch that defends freedom of expression and literature, of which Rushdie was beforehand the president.
The 75-year-old, carrying glasses with a black lens over his proper eye, was photographed on the crimson carpet for the gala on the American Museum of Pure Historical past close to Central Park in Manhattan.
Terror Triumphant? Anti-Faith Firebrand Dawkins Falls Silent After Rushdie Assassination Try https://t.co/EVMOLnc5eb
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His attendance had not been introduced earlier than he appeared to ship an emotional tackle to the 700 visitors.
“Terrorism mustn’t terrorize us. Violence should not deter us. The battle continues,” Rushdie proclaimed in French, Spanish and English, in line with a PEN America press launch.
Rushdie lived in hiding for years after Iran’s first supreme chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered his killing for what he deemed the blasphemous nature of “The Satanic Verses,” revealed in 1988.
He has since develop into an icon of free speech and continues to be an outspoken defender of the ability of phrases.
WATCH: Rushdie Knifeman Taken Down by Viewers Members, Carried Pretend ID in Identify of Hezbollah Chiefhttps://t.co/WGGI6bc03u
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On August 12, he was at a literary convention within the small cultural and bucolic city of Chautauqua in upstate New York when a person armed with a knife stormed the stage as Rushdie was about to start talking.
He was stabbed round 10 occasions and Rushdie’s literary agent Andrew Wylie revealed in October that he had misplaced sight in a single eye and the usage of one hand.
Bystanders and guards subdued the assailant, who was instantly arrested, charged and jailed pending trial.
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey with roots in Lebanon, pleaded not responsible to assault expenses.
“If it had not been for these individuals, I most definitely wouldn’t be standing right here immediately. I used to be the goal that day, however they had been the heroes. The braveness that day was all theirs. I owe my life to them,” Rushdie advised the gang on Thursday.
In February, across the launch of his newest novel “Victory Metropolis,” the author mentioned in his first interview for the reason that assault that he had confronted a variety of problem writing and was affected by post-traumatic stress.
The assault shocked many within the West however was welcomed by extremists in some Muslim nations.
Authors in Search of Some Character: Salman Rushdie Calls Charlie Hebdo Boycotters ‘Pussies’ http://t.co/LMAYRGmkKo pic.twitter.com/GyhBTRBpwp
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