Witnesses say they saw a man run on stage and either punch or stab the Booker Prize winner.
Image source, Getty ImagesAuthor Salman Rushdie, who suffered years of death threats after writing The Satanic Verses, has been attacked on stage in New York state.
The Booker Prize winner was speaking at an event of the Chautauqua Institution at the time.
Witnesses say they saw a man run on stage and either punch or stab Mr Rushdie as he was being introduced.
A video posted online shows attendees rushing onto the stage immediately following the incident.
The attacker is said to have been restrained by those on the scene.
Police confirmed a stabbing but declined to immediately identify the victim, AFP news agency reports.
Mr Rushdie’s condition is not currently known.
The Indian-born novelist catapulted to fame with Midnight Children in 1981, which went on to sell over one million copies in the UK alone.
But Mr Rushdie’s fourth book, in 1988 – The Satanic Verses – forced him into hiding for nine years.
The surrealist, post-modern novel sparked outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous, and was banned in some countries.
A year after the book’s publication, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie’s execution.
Dozens of people died in the violence that followed its publication, including murdered translators of the work.
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