"I'm in better shape than maybe I would have expected.”
Sir Salman Rushdie says he has moved on from the 2022 knife attack that nearly killed him.
His attacker, Hadi Matar, was sentenced to 25 years in May for attempted murder. Matar stabbed Sir Salman multiple times on stage at a lecture event in New York.
Speaking at the Hay Festival, the novelist said: “It will be nice to talk about fiction again because ever since the attack, really the only thing anybody’s wanted to talk about is the attack, but I’m over it.”
Sir Salman said a key moment in his recovery was returning to the same stage with his wife Eliza.
He said: “We went back to the scene of the crime to show myself I could stand up where I fell down.”
Security for his appearance at Hay was heightened. Sniffer dogs were deployed and bag searches caused a 15-minute delay.
Sir Salman waved to the crowd as he entered and gestured for them to stop applauding.
He said: “I can’t see everyone – but I can hear them.”
The author of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses was left blind in one eye and has a paralysed hand. His liver was also damaged in the attack. He described the experience as life-changing.
Previously speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said he was “pleased” Matar had received the maximum sentence.
Sir Salman’s 2023 memoir Knife explored the stabbing. He described the book as “my way of fighting back”.
The incident followed decades of death threats after the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988.
In November 2025, Sir Salman Rushdie will publish The Eleventh Hour, a collection of short stories and his first work of fiction since the attack.
He told the Hay audience he felt “excellent” despite his injuries.
He said: “There were bits of me that I’m annoyed about, like not having a right eye. But on the whole, I’ve been very fortunate and I’m in better shape than maybe I would have expected.”
During a wide-ranging discussion, he also reflected on US politics.
He said: “America was not in great shape.”
Referring to Barack Obama’s presidency, he recalled “the moment of hope, that image of Barack and Michelle Obama walking down the mall in DC with the crowds around them… people dancing in the streets in New York”.
He added: “And to go from that to the orange moment that we live in, it’s, let’s just say, disappointing.”
Despite this, he remains optimistic.
“I think I suffer from the optimism disease… I can’t help thinking somehow it will be alright.”
Sir Salman also addressed concerns about freedom of speech.
He said: “It means tolerating people who say things you don’t like.”
He recalled a time when a defamatory film about him was rejected by the British Board of Film Classification. But he insisted it be released.
“So they gave it a certificate… and nobody went. You know why? Lousy movie. And it taught me a lesson. Let it out and trust the audience. And that’s still my view.”
He warned against banning speech and urged younger generations “to think about it”.
On artificial intelligence, he said: “I don’t have ChatGPT… I try very hard to pretend it doesn’t exist.
“Someone asked it to write a couple of hundred words like me… it was terrible. And it has no sense of humour.”
Although he is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading literary figures, he joked about authors’ finances.
Sir Salman Rushdie said: “Authors don’t even have that much money… except the two of us (him and host Erica Wagner) and those who write about child wizards… the Taylor Swift of literature,” referring to JK Rowling.
“Good on her.”
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