Salman Rushdie makes first in-person public appearance since knife attack

British author was honoured at Pen America gala in New York, where he says 'the struggle continues'

British-American novelist Salman Rushdie at the Pen America gala in New York. EPA

British writer Salman Rushdie attended a New York gala this week in his first public appearance since a knife attack that nearly took his life last year.

The award-winning novelist, a naturalised American who has lived in New York for 20 years, lost sight in one eye after being stabbed on stage in August while speaking at a US arts centre.

On Thursday, he was given an honorary award at an event hosted by Pen America, a group that defends freedom of expression and literature, of which Rushdie was previously president.

The 75-year-old, wearing glasses with a black lens over his right eye, was photographed on the red carpet for the gala at the American Museum of Natural History near Central Park in Manhattan.

“Terrorism should not terrorise us. Violence must not deter us. The struggle continues,” Rushdie proclaimed in French, Spanish and English, according to a Pen America press release.

Rushdie lived in hiding for years after Iran's previous supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered his killing for what he deemed the blasphemous nature of The Satanic Verses, published in 1988.

He has since become the face of free speech and is still an outspoken defender of the power of words.

On August 12, he was at a literary conference in the small town of Chautauqua in upstate New York when a man armed with a knife stormed the stage as Rushdie was about to begin speaking.

He was stabbed about 10 times and Rushdie's literary agent Andrew Wylie revealed in October that he had lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand.

Bystanders and guards subdued the assailant, who was immediately arrested, charged and jailed pending trial.

Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey with roots in Lebanon, pleaded not guilty to assault charges.

“If it had not been for these people [who helped wrestle the assailant to the ground], I most certainly would not be standing here today. I was the target that day, but they were the heroes,” Rushdie told the crowd on Thursday.

“The courage that day was all theirs. I owe my life to them.”

In February, around the release of his latest novel Victory City, the writer said in his first interview since the attack that he had faced a lot of difficulty writing and was suffering from post-traumatic stress.

The attack shocked many in the West but was welcomed by extremists in some countries.