Author Interviews

Salman Rushdie tells of the violent attack that nearly killed him in memoir 'Knife'

5:56pm April 18, 2024

In his new memoir, Salman Rushdie writes about the young man who leapt from the audience and stabbed and almost killed him in August of 2022. He also describes his love for his wife, Eliza.

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Books

Author Salman Rushdie On Surviving Attack and The Value of Every Day of Life

4:33pm April 17, 2024

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Salman Rushdie about his new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.

In Alua Arthur's 2023 TED Talk, she said her ideal death would happen at sunset.

Death doula says life is more meaningful if you 'get real' about the end

1:22pm April 17, 2024

by Tonya Mosley

Alua Arthur helps people plan for death. A big part of her work is helping them reconcile the lives they lived with the lives they might have wanted. Her memoir is called Briefly Perfectly Human.

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Salman Rushdie says writing Knife allowed him to change his relationship to the attack. "Instead of just being the person who got stabbed, I now see myself as the person who wrote a book about getting stabbed," he says.

Books
Arts

Two nights before the attack, Salman Rushdie dreamed he was stabbed onstage

12:05pm April 17, 2024

by Terry Gross

Rushdie was onstage at a literary event in 2022 when he was attacked by a man in the audience: "Dying in the company of strangers — that was what was going through my mind." His new book is Knife.

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All Things Considered host, Mary Louise Kelly, speaks with author, Salman Rushdie, about his new book "Knife." The book chronicles the murder attempt on Rushdie's life, during which he was stabbed ten times, claiming the sight in Rushdie's right eye.

Watch: Salman Rushdie on the moment he was attacked on stage, and why he felt lonely

9:45am April 17, 2024

Salman Rushdie is a storyteller. So when you ask him to describe the day, in 2022, when he was attacked and nearly killed by a young man with a knife, Rushdie paints a vivid picture.

Technology and disinformation places U.S. in multiple cold wars, author argues

6:03pm April 16, 2024

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to journalist David Sanger about his new book, New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, And America's Struggle To Defend The West.

What's the key to creating great art? This author spoke to 40+ artists to find out

4:45pm April 16, 2024

by Ari Shapiro

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Adam Moss, author of The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing.

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Books

Doris Kearns Goodwin newest book is about her late husband's work in the 1960s

5:08am April 15, 2024

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin about her late husband Dick Goodwin and her new book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.

Books

Hilde Ostby's memoir 'My Belly' traces the root of body image issues and self-loathing

8:11am April 14, 2024

by Ayesha Rascoe

Self-loathing because of our looks can be second-nature for many of us. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Hilde Ostby about her memoir, "My Belly," which examines what's behind that feeling.

Books

Callie Siskel on 'Two Minds', her new poetry collection about love and loss

9:10am April 13, 2024

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks with poet Callie Siskel about her latest collection "Two Minds." Siskel lost her father when she was 12, and writes about making loss part of living.