"When you've written 23 books, it's a little frustrating to be known not even for a book, but for something that happened to a book in 1989—when that was my fifth published book and this is my 23rd. Can we please talk about books? I keep trying to say."
"I don't feel symbolic. I feel actual. I feel like I'm a working writer trying to make his work. I keep trying to say that but people are more interested in the fatwa than in the books."
"Historically, attacks on free expression have come from the rich and powerful, and the religious. But sometimes the squashing of speech can appear in other guises."
Salman Rushdie expressed frustration at the New Orleans Book Festival about being defined by the fatwa issued against him in 1989 rather than by his literary work. Since Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini condemned his novel The Satanic Verses as offensive to Islam, Rushdie has lived under constant threat, including a 2022 attack that nearly killed him. Despite this, Rushdie has actively championed free expression, serving as president of PEN America and publishing a memoir about his attempted murder. He emphasized that attacks on free expression historically originate from the rich, powerful, and religious institutions, though censorship manifests in various forms.
Read at The Atlantic
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