Hi, this midweek podcast proudly offers you something you can get somewhere else, but

we didn't want you to miss it.

David Remnick's in-depth interview with Salman Rushdie, the writer's first since a knife-wielding

fanatic attacked him on stage at a festival in New York in August 2022.

Sure, it's about the stabbing that maimed him and almost killed him, the impact of that,

but it's even more about what kind of life Rushdie has led, the choices he's made, and

how being under mortal threat for some 35 years clarifies the mind and influences how and

what you write.

First, David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker and host of the New Yorker Radio Hour.

34 years ago, the Iatola Chomeney, then the Supreme Leader of Iran, declared that a novel

called the Satanic Versus was a blasphemy.

He issued a ruling of Fatwa, ordering the assassination of its author, the Indian British novelist Salman

Rushdie.

After 10 years of fugitive life in London and then more than 20 years living freely in

unguarded in New York City, history caught up with Rushdie, and history came in the form

of a young man named Hadimatar, dressed in black, and wielding a knife.

Or attacked Rushdie on a stage in August, stabbing him repeatedly.

Rushdie barely survived.

First, I need to ask how you are.

Just how are you feeling?

You know, I mean better.

But considering what happened, I'm not so bad.

...