Salman Rushdie attends PEN America gala, his first in-person appearance since stabbing last summer

New York, May 19

Salman Rushdie has made his first in-person public appearance since being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalised nine months ago. The author was in attendance on Thursday night for the annual gala of PEN America, the literary and free expression organisation for which he once served as president.

“I feel great,” said Rushdie, wearing a dark collarless jacket and matching pants. “I have a long association with PEN America and I’m just happy to be amongst writers and book people.”

Rushdie, 75, attended the gala, where hundreds of writers and other PEN members gathered for the dinner benefit.

‘Saturday Night Live’ founder Lorne Michaels and Iranian dissident Narges Mohammadi were among those scheduled to be honoured.

Last August, Rushdie was appearing at the Chautauqua Institution, a non-profit education and retreat centre in western New York, when he was assaulted by a young man dressed in black and carrying a knife. Rushdie sustained multiple wounds, leaving him blind in his right eye and struggling to write.