Author Salman Rushdie, who faced years of Islamist death threats after writing ‘The Satanic Verses’, has been attacked on stage in New York state.
The Booker Prize winner, 75, was speaking at an event at the Chautauqua Institution at the time.
New York State police said a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie and an interviewer. “Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck,” the police statement said.
The author was transported by helicopter to a local hospital. His condition is not currently known.
The interviewer, Henry Reese, also suffered a minor head injury. Mr Reese is the co-founder of a non-profit that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution.
The suspect was immediately taken into custody, police said.
A video posted online shows attendees rushing onto the stage immediately following the incident.
The Indian-born novelist catapulted to fame with Midnight’s Children in 1981, which went on to sell over one million copies in the UK alone.
But Mr Rushdie’s fourth book, in 1988 – The Satanic Verses – forced him into hiding for nine years. The surrealist, post-modern novel sparked outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous, and was banned in some countries.
A year after the book’s publication, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Mr Rushdie’s execution and offered a $3m (£2.5m) reward. Dozens of people died in the violence that followed its publication, including murdered translators of the work.
The bounty over Mr Rushdie’s head remains active, although Iran’s government has distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree.
The author, who has British and American citizenship, is a vocal advocate for freedom of expression and has defended his work on several occasions.
His appearance at the Chautauqua Institution event, in western New York, was the first in a summertime lecture series hosted by the non-profit.
A spokesman for the organisation’s on-site police department declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
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