Novelist Salman Rushdie made a surprise appearance to collect a literary award in New York on Tuesday amid security concerns after an attack on him last year.
His attendance was not publicized until the night of the event, with only a handful of the more than 100 attendees knowing in advance that he would appear to accept the first-ever "Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award," presented by the Vaclav Havel Center on Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to the Independent.
The Independent reported that deputies from the city police were believed to have also been stationed outside the venue.
The security measures came after Rushdie, 76, was stabbed in August 2022 at a literary festival in western New York. He spent several weeks in the hospital and lost vision in one eye.
"I apologize for being a mystery guest," Rushdie said after being introduced by Reading Lolita in Tehran author Azar Nafisi at the annual "Living in Truth" ceremony. "I don't feel at all mysterious. But it made life a little simpler."
Established in 2012 as the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, the Havel Center honors the Czech playwright and dissident who became the final president of Czechoslovakia after the Communist regime's collapse in the late 1980s.
It aims to promote Havel's legacy, emphasizing his advocacy for human rights and freedom of expression, after his death in 2011.
Since the late 1980s, concerns over assaults on Rushdie heightened due to his book "The Satanic Verses," condemned by Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for its perceived blasphemy toward Prophet Muhammad.
After the book's publication, Khomeini issued a death decree against Rushdie, forcing the author to seek refuge in hiding.
In his speech Tuesday, Rushdie praised Havel, a close friend who was one of the first government leaders to support him when he had to hide, saying that he was "kind of a hero of mine" who was "able to be an artist at the same time as being an activist."
"He was inspirational to me as for many, many writers, and to receive an award in his name is a great honor," Rushdie said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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