Canadian literary figures double down on free speech following Salman Rushdie attack

Canadian writers, editors and literary figures are doubling down on the right to freedom of thought and expression after an attack on award-winning author Salman Rushdie left him hospitalized and on a ventilator.

Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic verses” drew death threats from Iran’s leaders in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York.

Executive Vice-President and Publisher of Penguin Random House Canada Louise Dennys, who has published and edited Rushdie’s writing for over 30 years, calls the attack “cowardly” and “reprehensible in every way.”

Dennys says the novelist is one of the greatest proponents of freedom of thought and speech in the world today, adding the attack is already having the opposite effect of its suspected intentions given the outpouring of support from the international literary community.

Canadian writer John Ralston Saul, who has known Rushdie since the 1990s, says the author was always aware that someone might attack him but he chose to live publicly in order to speak out against those trying to silence free expression and debate.

The 75-year-old author suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and is likely to lose an eye as a result of the attack.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2022.

SHARE: