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The attack on Salman Rushdie and free speech

Author Salman Rushdie poses for photographers at a book signing in London. (Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)
Author Salman Rushdie poses for photographers at a book signing in London. (Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

Author Salman Rushdie remains in critical condition and may lose an eye after being attacked onstage at the Chautauqua Institution. The 75-year-old was about to give a lecture on artistic freedom when he was stabbed in front of an audience largely made up of fellow writers. Many view this as a direct attack on free speech, as Rushdie spent decades with a bounty on his head — a fatwa — for his book “The Satanic Verses.”

Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, talks with Here & Now‘s Scott Tong.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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