Salman Rushdie opens up about knife attack: ‘I have a very good therapist’

Almost a year after being stabbed multiple times on stage before a lecture in Chautauqua, N.Y., Sir Salman Rushdie said he has “crazy dreams” about the incident.

In an interview with the BBC, the 76-year-old British-American author said he is working with a “very good therapist” but is still indecisive on whether he will attend another public event that is not invitation-only and “controllable.” His attacker, 24-year-old Hadi Matar — who is being charged with attempted murder — pleaded not guilty in August 2022. 

“That’s just silly because a couple of thousand people saw him do it,” Rushdie said in response to a question about the plea during the BBC interview. “I’m led to believe that that’s just a holding plea and that actually he might well change his plea. And if I was his lawyer, I would advise him to do so.”

Salman Rushdie says he’s ‘lucky’ in first interview since stabbing

Rushdie has faced backlash and threats for his work for decades, especially from those who thought his depiction of Islam in his novel “The Satanic Verses,” released in 1988, was blasphemous. Some of that backlash included the banning of the book in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Sudan.