Literature honors accidental hero Salman Rushdie who just wanted to write

Followed live by Rushdie himself from the hospital where he was recovering from his stabbing, the event was held on the steps of the famous library center, a historic building located just a few hundred meters from Times Square, according to the organizers.

Paul Auster, Gay Talese, Jeff Eugenides, Siri Husvedt, and a dozen other writers took the floor and in many cases skipped the script: Read excerpts from Rushdie’s worka few choices tell experiences and memories associates them with the author of ‘The Satanic Verses’, who was sentenced to death and fatwa by the Iranian regime in 1989.

The values ​​underlying Rushdie’s prolific work have been invoked by the authors as beacons illuminating a conflicted world: diversity of ideas, hybridisation, right to freedom of expressionfreedom of the press, love of books, and in short, “celebration of life” was perhaps the most widely heard expression during the hour of this tribute.

A dozen PEN activists armed themselves with symbolic phrases written by Rushdie, such as “Art is not entertainment; it is revolution at best” or “If we are unsure of our freedom, we are not.” Free.”

“You didn’t want to be a hero”

“Joyful you didn’t want the hero role: you just wanted to be allowed to write silent, but you’ve finally become our hero”, Brit Tina Brown told Rushdie, to read the following paragraphs where the author asserts the importance of the press, “the necessary skepticism of journalists and their constant questioning of power.”

The most anticipated person at the event, dressed in black and with a serious face, was Paul Auster—who had just lost a grandson and son to an overdose. the universe pushes the limits of languages, make the world bigger and help us identify with those who are not like us.

Author Siri Husvedt—an American himself of Norwegian parents—lauded the diversity in which Rushdie—born in India, educated in England, and living in the United States—was raised in and valued his ” does not suffer from a lack of rootsbut on the contrary, enjoy its many roots”.

Another expatriate in New York, Irishman Colum McCaan, said the world must stand up in solidarity with Rushdie, as happened when Charlie Hebdo magazine was bombed in Paris. Now is the time to say ‘Nous sommes Salman’ (‘We are Salman’).

Rushdie’s courage not succumb to self-censorship or silence After he was sentenced to death in 1989, he was also highlighted by many of his colleagues, such as the American Amy Homes, who reminded him that artists love to talk about their work, not about censorship, but someone like Rushdie herself has to do it. because the freedom to write is “like air: only in its absence you feel its need”.

But not everything was dominated by gravity or seriousness: perhaps cheerful character After Rushdie, Iranian poet Roya Hakakian (another “exile in New York”) read excerpts from Rushdie’s children’s book, Aaron and the Sea of ​​Stories. In a world dominated by “factories of sadness”, a storyteller named Rasheed still keeps the torch of dreams alive, but one day their stories run out and his son, Harun, who embarks on a thousand adventures, will help him regain his gift. Traveling to the Sea of ​​Stories. Aaron is like Salman himself.