“The knife, reflections following an assassination attempt”: Salman Rushdie will reveal himself like never before with this event book

Following this knife attack, Salman Rushdie lost sight in his right eye. Rachel Eliza Griffiths

With "The Knife", which will be released simultaneously on April 16 around the world, Salman Rushdie returns to the knife attack of which he was the victim  on August 12, 2022 in the United States.

It's already one of the most anticipated books of 2016, it will be released in bookstores on April 16, in France as everywhere else in the world, and no one will be able to read every single line of it before this date. Total embargo, no proof will be circulated, not a single copy will be distributed in advance to journalists in the press service.

Knife attack

This is how Gallimard, the French publisher of this event publication, announced this week the release of Salman Rushdie's new book: The knife. And it will not be a novel, as the subtitle of this text immediately makes clear: "Reflections following an assassination attempt".

As we will have understood, the American-British author of Indian origin will return with this work on the knife attack that ;#39;he suffered on August 12, 2022 in the United States. And although he survived this attack, he lost sight in his right eye, and also some mobility in one of his hands.

More than 35 years after the fatwa…

The knife will also appear more than 35 years after the fatwa pronounced against Salman Rushdie, by Ayatollah Khomeini, in reaction to the release of his novel The Satanic Verses. Since then, Salman Rushdie has lived under police protection.

A text that is already eagerly awaited. Gallimard

"The novelist lifts the veil on the long and painful journey to rebuild oneself after an act of such violence; until the miracle of a second chance", the publisher said this week.

"A powerful reflection"

"The Knife also reads as a powerful, intimate and ultimately hopeful reflection on life, love and the power of Literature. It’is also an ode to artistic creation as a space of absolute freedom", also commented Gallimard.

"It was essential that I wrote this book: a way of welcoming what happened, and responding to violence with ;rsquo;art"  for his part underlined Salman Rushdie, cited by the publisher. In 2023, Salman Rushdie published his first novel following this knife attack,  The City of Victory, published in France by Actes Sud.