skip to main content

Salman Rushdie: I will never be reconciled with injuries from knife attack

A 2022 attack on author Salman Rushdie left him blind in one eye
A 2022 attack on author Salman Rushdie left him blind in one eye

Booker-prize winning author Salman Rushdie has said he will never be "reconciled" with the life-changing injuries he suffered in a knife attack.

The 2022 attack on Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state left him blind in one eye.

Hadi Matar was found guilty of attempted murder and assault in February and sentenced to 25 years in prison in May.

Rushdie told Tatler: "I thought he was very unimpressive, this little squirt.

"It made me feel contempt, and then it made me think, well, unimpressive little jerks can kill you. Which he almost did, and he didn't look at me at any point."

The writer gave evidence during the trial and he told the magazine: "By the time the trial came about, it was almost three years since the attack.

"That’s a long time to digest and think about and recover from something. So I just answered the questions I was asked and went home."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 25: (L-R) Salman Rushdie talks with David Remnick during The 2025 New Yorker Festival at Webster Hall on October 25, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The New Yorker)
Author Salman Rushdie has said he will never be "reconciled" over the life-changing injuries

However, he said the physical effects of the attack are still very present.

He said: "The fact that losing an eye and having a hand that doesn’t work properly is something you notice all the time.

"You wake up in the morning and you think, '****, I can’t see out of my right eye’. I don’t think I can get reconciled to that. You just have to deal with it. I don’t think, ‘Oh, it’s fine. I’ve got another eye’."

Despite this, Rushdie said has no plans to stop working, adding: "I keep thinking of things to write, so I’d better live long enough to write them."

Source: Press Association

Read Next