Salman Rushdie has told how his worst fear – that of being blinded – half came true when he lost sight in one eye after a knife attack.
The 77-year-old Indian-born author was left blind in his right eye after the attack on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state in August 2022, where he was about to give a talk.
He has since written a book about the ordeal, which he discussed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, appearing remotely from the US.
The Booker Prize-winning writer described how the injuries he suffered almost realised his worst fear, referencing George Orwell’s novel 1984.
“You know how in Orwell’s 1984 when you get to room 101, what you find there is the worst thing in the world?
“And the worst thing in the world is different for everybody. So for Winston Smith, the tragic anti-hero, the worst thing in the world is rats, and that’s what he finds in room 101. For me, I think it’s always been blindness.
“I think it’s always been the fear of blindness, and then yeah, then it half came true.
“I mean, I’m fortunate that the other eye is in reasonably good shape, thank goodness.”
Rushdie has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses, about the life of the prophet Mohammed, which is considered blasphemous by some Muslims.
In 1989, Iran’s former ruler Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the writer’s death and there was a failed assassination attempt on the author that year.
Support for the death sentence was withdrawn in 1998 by the Iranian government.
Hadi Matar, the man accused of attacking Rushdie, is due to stand trial in October and the writer is expected to testify.
Matar’s lawyer last month said his client maintains his innocence.
Rushdie said he had “more or less” thought the danger he has faced for much of his life was over having lived almost normally for decades – but said recent events would not “scare me into hiding in a corner”.