Salman Rushdie made an emotional and unexpected return to public life on May 18 to participate in the annual gala of Poets, Essayists, Novelists (PEN) of America, a non-profit organization of writers focused on freedom of expression through literature In his final speech at the event, he accepted a special award, the PEN Centenary Courage Award, just nine months after being repeatedly stabbed and hospitalized.
“It’s good to be back – as opposed to not coming back, which was also a possibility. I’m glad the dice rolled that way,” Mr Rushdie, 75, told hundreds of people at the American Museum of Natural History, where he received a standing ovation .
It was his first public appearance since being attacked on stage at a literary festival in western New York last August.
Mr. Rushdie, whose attendance was not announced in advance, spoke briefly, and dedicated some of his remarks to those who came to help him at the Chautauqua Institution, a non-profit education and retreat center . He cited Henry Reese, a participant in the City of Asylum Project in Pittsburgh, for tackling the assailant and thanked members of the audience who also stepped in.
“I accept this award, therefore, on behalf of all those who came to my rescue. I was the target that day, but they were the heroes. The courage that day belonged to them and to save my life I thank them.
“And I have one last thing to add. It is this: Terror must not terrorize us. Violence must not frighten us. La lutte continues. La lutta continua. The struggle continues.”
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Attacks against the author have been feared since the late 1980s following the publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses”, which was condemned by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as blasphemous, referring to the Prophet Mohammad . The Ayatollah issued a decree for Rushdie’s death, forcing the author to go into hiding, although he had been traveling freely for years before the attack.
Since then, he has given few interviews and otherwise communicated through his Twitter account and prepared remarks. Earlier this week, he delivered a video message for the British Book Awards, where he was presented with the Freedom to Publish award.
Mr Rushdie was clearly excited to attend the ceremony, but his voice sounded weaker than before and the right frame of his glasses was black, concealing the eye that had been blinded by his assailant.
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PEN galas have long been a combination of literature, politics, activism and celebrity, with attendees ranging from Alec Baldwin to Sen. Angus King of Maine. Other honorees included “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels and jailed Iranian journalist and activist Narges Mohammadi, who was given the PEN/Barbe Freedom to Write Award.
“Dear writers, thinkers and sympathizers, I implore you to help the Iranian people free themselves from the grip of the Islamic Republic, or morally speaking, please help end the suffering of the Iranian people,” Mr. Mohammadi wrote from a prison in prison. The letter was read aloud at the ceremony. “Let us prove the magic of global unity against officials obsessed with power and greed.”
Event host Colin Jost lightens tense atmosphere with humor
The host for the night was “Saturday Night Live” head writer Colin Jost, who inspired nervous laughter with jokes about the risks of being in the same room with Mr. Rushdie, comparing it to sharing a balcony section with Abraham Lincoln. From doing He also briefly mentioned the Hollywood writers’ strike that had shut down “Saturday Night Live” since early May, saying that spending the afternoon on a picket line and then “showing up for museum cocktail hour” Disorientation”. ,
PEN events are familiar settings for Mr. Rushdie, former president of PEN, for which freedom of expression is a core mission. He has participated several times in the past and is a co-founder of PEN’s World Voices Festival, an international conference of author panels and interviews held during the PEN Gala.
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Mr Rushdie’s surprise appearance was the highlight of an eventful month for PEN, the literary and free expression organization that has been in the middle of various conflicts, by choice and otherwise.
On May 17, PEN and Penguin Random House sued a Florida school district for removing books related to race and LGBTQ+ identity. Earlier in the week, author Masha Gessen revealed she had resigned as vice-chair of the PEN board after a World Voices panel with Russian dissidents, which she was scheduled to moderate, switched to a separate PEN program. He was fired amid objections to the presence of Ukrainians in the city.
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Last week, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos announced he would not attend the gala where he was to accept the PEN America Business Visionary Award. Sarandos cited the writers’ strike, during which Netflix has been a major target of criticism among union members, but the company was cited as a major sponsor of the gala dinner on Thursday night.
Former SNL writer and performer John Mulaney presented Mr. Michaels with the PEN Literary Service Award, which has previously been given to Mr. Stephen King, Mr. Stephen Sondheim and Mr. Rushdie, who received the award in 2014 for their “incomparable artistry and courage”. had won A novelist and essayist. Mr. Michaels has helped launch countless television and film stars, but he dedicated his speech at the May 18 event to the writers and SNL’s writing room.
The authors, he explained, associated with “paper airplanes” and “simply fooling around” and the stereotypes “are not completely wrong”. Writers are like monkeys “because monkeys are funny and you never really know what they’re going to do and they’re one of us.” But they are some of the “most brilliant and sophisticated men and women we know,” he said, and the “throbbing heart” of “Saturday Night Live” is in the writer’s room.
“This is a room you want to be in,” he said. “When you laugh there is a little breath of freedom in it.” This story has been corrected to reflect that Mr. Rushdie’s novel is “The Satanic Verses” and not “The Satanic Verses”.