Salman Rushdie Releasing Book About New York Knife Attack That Left Him Blind in One Eye

The 'Satanic Verses' author was stabbed at a literary festival in 2022 in upstate New York

Salman Rushdie’s upcoming memoir will focus on the 2022 stabbing attack that resulted in blindness in the author’s right eye.

The new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, will be released in the U.S. on April 16 by Random House, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

“This was a necessary book for me to write: a way to take charge of what happened, and to answer violence with art,” Rushdie said in a statement via Penguin Random House.

Related: Iran Denies Involvement in Salman Rushdie Attack, Says Author Brought It upon Himself

On Aug. 12, 2022, Rushdie was on stage at a literary festival at New York State's Chautauqua Institution when a male assailant approached and attacked him with a knife. Rushdie was transported to a hospital in Pennsylvania and was later taken off a ventilator. In a statement at the time, the author’s son, Zafar Rushdie, said of his father: "Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humor remains intact."

In an interview with Spanish-language newspaper El Pais last year, Rushdie’s literary agent, Andrew Wylie, said in addition to the loss of sight in one eye and function in one of his hands, the author sustained 15 wounds in his chest and torso and three wounds to his neck following the "brutal attack." Wylie also said that the assailant’s knife cut nerves in one of Rushdie’s arms.

Related: Police Identify 24-Year-Old Suspect in Salman Rushdie Stabbing

The suspect in the attack, Hadi Matar, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault.

Earlier this year, Random House published Rushdie’s novel Victory City, which had been finished prior to the incident, the AP reported. In a statement about Rushdie’s new memoir, Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said:  “Knife is a searing book, and a reminder of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable,” said in a statement. “We are honored to publish it, and amazed at Salman’s determination to tell his story, and to return to the work he loves.”

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Rushdie achieved worldwide prominence for his 1989 book, The Satanic Verses, which was considered blasphemous by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As a result of the book's publication, a fatwa was issued calling for the author’s assassination, which forced Rushdie to go into hiding. He lived under the death threat until 1998 when Iran’s government said it would no longer carry out the fatwa.

Related: Padma Lakshmi Says She's 'Relieved' Ex-Husband Salman Rushdie Is 'Pulling Through' After Stabbing

Rushdie addressed the stabbing attack to The New Yorker in an interview published in February of this year. “Well, you know, I’ve been better,” he said of his spirits. “But, considering what happened, I’m not so bad. As you can see, the big injuries are healed, essentially. I have feeling in my thumb and index finger and in the bottom half of the palm. I’m doing a lot of hand therapy, and I’m told that I’m doing very well.”

In the same interview, Rushdie expressed thanks, including to his wife and children as well as his doctors following the attack. “I’m lucky,” he said. “What I really want to say is that my main overwhelming feeling is gratitude."

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