Salman Rushdie attacked on stage at US event

Author Salman Rushdie, whose writing has led to death threats, has been attacked on stage at an event in western New York. The 75-year-old was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York when a man stormed the stage, it has been reported.

The man was said to have begun punching or stabbing as Rushdie was being introduced. The author of The Satanic Verses - which has been banned in Iran since 1988 - as well as Midnight’s Children and 2019’s Quichotte, was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year.

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He was knighted in 2008, also for his services to literature, and has a literary career that spans more than two decades and during which he has won several high-profile accolades such as the Booker prize.

Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States.

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