Hours after being attacked, the "news is not good" about Salman Rushdie, who was attacked Friday on stage in the state of New York.
The author’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said in an email update to the New York Times that Rushdie is on a ventilator and cannot speak, his arm and liver are injured and he might lose an eye.
The suspect who attacked Rushdie was taken into custody, police said Friday.
Pictures on social media showed Rushdie, whose works have prompted death threats, lying on stage at the Chautauqua Institution as police and bystanders attempted to provide first aid.
Footage also showed bystanders rushing to the stage in the immediate wake of the attack.
The attack took place before a lecture he was about to present.
The author suffered a stab wound to his neck and was transported to a hospital, New York State Police said in a statement.
An interviewer also suffered a minor head injury, police added.
Rushdie, 75, was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel "Midnight's Children" in 1981, which won international praise and Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India.
But his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" brought attention beyond his imagination when it sparked a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for his death by Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The novel was considered by Muslims as disrespectful of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Rushdie, who was born in India to non-practicing Muslims and today identifies as an atheist, was forced to go underground as a bounty was put on his head -- which remains today.
He was granted police protection by the government in Britain, where he was at school and where he made his home, following the murder or attempted murder of his translators and publishers.
He spent nearly a decade in hiding, moving houses repeatedly and being unable to tell his children where he lived.
The author’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said in an email update to the New York Times that Rushdie is on a ventilator and cannot speak, his arm and liver are injured and he might lose an eye.
The suspect who attacked Rushdie was taken into custody, police said Friday.
Pictures on social media showed Rushdie, whose works have prompted death threats, lying on stage at the Chautauqua Institution as police and bystanders attempted to provide first aid.
Footage also showed bystanders rushing to the stage in the immediate wake of the attack.
The attack took place before a lecture he was about to present.
The author suffered a stab wound to his neck and was transported to a hospital, New York State Police said in a statement.
An interviewer also suffered a minor head injury, police added.
Rushdie, 75, was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel "Midnight's Children" in 1981, which won international praise and Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India.
But his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" brought attention beyond his imagination when it sparked a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for his death by Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The novel was considered by Muslims as disrespectful of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Rushdie, who was born in India to non-practicing Muslims and today identifies as an atheist, was forced to go underground as a bounty was put on his head -- which remains today.
He was granted police protection by the government in Britain, where he was at school and where he made his home, following the murder or attempted murder of his translators and publishers.
He spent nearly a decade in hiding, moving houses repeatedly and being unable to tell his children where he lived.