Hundreds of writers will read excerpts from Rushdi’s works in solidarity
The event, titled “Stand With Salman,” will take place in New York and is comparable to the collaborative reading of the “Satanic Verses” held in 1989 when the fatwa was issued, which was attended by more than a thousand individuals.
This weekend, hundreds of writers will assemble in New York to recite selections from Salman Rushdie’s works. A similar episode occurred in 1989, when Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued an edict calling for the execution of Rushdi in response to the release of the Satanic Verses book.
Participating authors include Paul Auster, Tina Brown, Guy Thales, and others, and the roster is continually being expanded. The authors will meet on the steps of the New York Public Library on Friday morning, exactly one week after Rushdie, 75, was stabbed many times on stage in upstate New York. The event is titled “Support for Salman.”
His injuries are characterized as “very serious” and he is currently healing in a hospital. They comprised of ten stab wounds, from which he escaped with a liver injury and nerve damage to his hand and eye. His son Zafar reported that Rushdi was now able to speak and that his sense of humor had not changed.
The event on Friday is coordinated by American PEN, the New York Public Library, Penguin Random House, Rushdie’s publisher, and other non-governmental groups. The event will be streamed live online, and individuals unable to attend are encouraged to organize a similar public reading in their own town or submit videos of themselves reading excerpts with the hashtag #StandWithSalman. The previous reading in 1989 was attended by about 3000 individuals.
