Friends and fellow writers spoke out on behalf of Salman Rushdieat a rally on the main steps of the New York Public Library on Friday.
Rushdie's condition improved and, according to copyright agents, he was removed from the respirator.
READ MORE: Salman Rushdie attacker denied bail, lawyer barred from speaking to media
Geoffrey Eugenides, Tina Brown and Kiran Desai shared their wishes for a full recovery, telling Rushdie's story as an inspiration and advocate for free expression, and writing in his book, I read an essay, a passage from a speech that was denounced as blasphemous by some Muslims.
Rushdie went into hiding for years after Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a decree fatwa calling for his death in 1989, but has been free for the past two decades. was traveling.
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The hour-long "Stand With Salman" gathering was held at the library, Rushdie's publisher, his Penguin Random House, and partially presented by literary scholars. Human rights organization PEN America. Hundreds attended, many affiliated with PEN, many of whom his 75-year-old Rushdie was a former president.
in the first speaker of the day. One PEN CEO, Suzanne Nossel, said: "Today we celebrate Salman for what he endured and, more importantly, for what he produced: the stories, characters, metaphors and images he gave to the world."[59]
Although the rally did not include new words from Rushdie, Nossel said he was aware of the event and even offered suggestions as to what to read. Rushdie's son Zafar Rushdie, who lived with his father, tweeted that it was "wonderful to see the crowds gathering" outside the library. Advertisement continued
The day after a Mayville, New York judge denied 24-year-old Hadi Mathar bail, a ``fight with Salman'' was held for attempted murder and assault. and pleaded not guilty. While in prison, Matar told the New York Post that he disparaged Rushdie as anti-Muslim and expressed admiration for Ayatollah.
Read more: Salman Rushdie's attackers were "surprised" to learn the author survived the stabbing
On Friday, the writer, who included other readers, journalist Gay Talese, writer and former Pennsylvania president Andrew Solomon, and poet, lawyer and activist Reginald Dwayne Betts. Actor Asif Mandvi read Rushdie's next novel, Victory City, which he completed before the attack. The rest is the city of words. Only words win. ''
His Eugenides, who wrote novels such as the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Middlesex," recalled a trip to London in the early 1980s. Eugenides is in his 20s and Rushdie's groundbreaking novel "Midnight's Children" was recently published. He learns that Rushdie lives there and decides that he wants to meet him. It was many years before "The Satanic Verse" that Eugenides found his name and address in his phone book.
"I took the tube to his house. In the end, Salman wasn't home. Greeted by Rushdie's mother-in-law at the time, said Eugenides, who left a note for the author.
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"It was the world we used to live in," added Eugenides.
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