Hadi Matar, tried for the 2022 attack on Salman Rushdie, has been convicted in the state of New York of attempted murder.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Salman Rushdie: ‘Writing Is a Kind of Optimism’

See: Our coverage of Salman Rushdie

Two-and-a-half years after becoming the victim of a stabbing attack onstage during an August 2022 appearance at upstate New York’s Chautauqua Institute, the assailant of the Mumbai-born British and American author Salman Rushdie has been found guilty of attempted murder in the second degree today (February 21).

Hadi Matar of the US state of New Jersey may receive up to 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced in a court hearing provisionally set for April 23.

Rushdie, 77, participated in the trial before Chautauqua County Judge David Foley, as part of a week of prosecution testimony from witnesses. The author lost his sight in his right eye and suffered more than a dozen stabbing and slashing wounds in the attack.

As Carolyn Thompson reports for the Associated Press, Matar—now convicted in Chautauqua—also faces trial  in US District Court in Buffalo, New York, “on a separate federal indictment charging him with attempting to provide material support to the militant group Hezbollah.”

Matar is described in press reports as a dual citizen of his native United States and Lebanon. In the past, he told the New York Post that he disliked Rushdie because he had “attacked Islam.” That was the same interview in which Matar expressed surprise when told that Rushdie had survived the attack.

It took jurors less than two hours to return their guilty verdict. As Aleksandra Michalska and Jonathan Allen report for Reuters, Matar did not take the stand

It’s an irony remarked on many times that when he was attacked, Rushdie was at Chautauqua to talk about the United States as a safe space for exiled writers.

‘A Singular Champion of Writers’

This afternoon, on the news of Matar’s conviction, PEN America has provided Publishing Perspectives with a statement reading:

“The conviction of Salman Rushdie’s attacker is an important step toward justice for this unparalleled writer and reaffirms that violence can never be the answer to ideas.

“Decades after the Iranian fatwa that marked Rushdie for death, this case is a stark reminder of the enduring threats faced by writers who challenge authority and orthodoxy. We must remain vigilant in defending the right to speak, write, and think, without fear.

“Over many years, Rushdie has been a singular champion of writers under threat worldwide, speaking out on behalf of their freedom to write after being menaced himself for decades by the order calling for his execution.

“His courageous and defiant spirit is a beacon as we defend free expression wherever it comes under threat.”

In his news conference at the 2024 Frankfurter Buchmesse, ahead of his receipt of the German book trade’s peace prize, Rushdie told a packed room of more than 100 journalists, “What I really felt is that it was impossible to write anything else—it seemed kind of absurd to write something else until I go through this subject.”

Honors in Germany, Iceland

At the time it was announced that the 2023 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade would go to Rushdie,  Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, who heads the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany’s publishers and booksellers association, was quoted, saying, “From the moment his masterpiece Midnight’s Children (Penguin Random House) was published in 1981, Salman Rushdie has awed us with his interpretations of migration and global politics.”

In September, Rushdie was given Iceland’s biennial Halldór Laxness International Literary Prize in recognition of his “exceptional contributions to world literature.”

That €15,000 (US$16,741) accolade is supported by the Reykjavik International Literary Festival, the office of the Icelandic prime minister; Reykjavik’s ministry of culture and business affairs; Business Iceland; Gljúfrasteinn—the museum made from the former home of Halldór Laxness; and Forlagið bókabúð, the Icelandic publisher of Halldór Laxness.

At that ceremony, Stella Jóhannesdóttir, who directs the Reykjavik festival, said, “Salman Rushdie’s work embodies the spirit of literary innovation and cultural dialogue that the Halldór Laxness Prize seeks to honor.

“His stories resonate across borders, reminding us of the universal power of literature.”

‘The Force Used by Oppressive Regimes’

In the statement of rationale provided by the jury of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the jury wrote:

“In his novels and nonfiction, he melds narrative foresight with unfailing literary innovation, humour and wisdom. His work chronicles the force used by oppressive regimes to destroy entire societies while also celebrating the indestructible spirit of resistance displayed by individual human beings.

“Ever since Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989, the author has lived under serious and constant threat to his life. And yet he remains a passionate defender of freedom of thought and expression – just as equally for himself as for those whose views he does not share. He thus accepts great personal risk in his enduring defense of an essential prerequisite for peaceful human co-existence.

In August 2022, shortly before the publication of his most recent novel, Victory City, a violent attempt was made on his life. Today, despite still wrestling with massive physical and psychological consequences, he continues to write with great imagination and deep humanity. We honor Salman Rushdie for his indomitable spirit, for his affirmation of life and for enriching our world with his love of storytelling.”

One of Salman Rushdie’s most arresting comments in recent appearances was in his response to a reporter at the Frankfurt news conference about the author’s apparent upbeat demeanor.

“I’ve always found myself to be almost unreasonably optimistic about the world,” Rushdie said. “I think writing is a kind of optimism, I think in order to dedicate yourself for several years to making a book,  it’s a kind of optimistic act. You’re hoping that somebody will read it in the end.

“So I think writers often are fueled by a kind of optimism in spite of the reality of life which might be quite dark, which I think it is just now.”

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More from Publishing Perspectives on Salman Rushdie is here, more on the freedom of expression and freedom to publish is here, more on book and publishing awards in the international industry is here, more on the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is here, more on the Icelandic market is here, more on international book and publishing awards programs is here, more on international literary festivals is here.