City of Asylum/Pittsburgh co-founder injured in Salman Rushdie attack

Supporters are wishing a speedy recovery for Henry Reese, co-founder of the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, who was injured Friday along with noted writer Salman Rushdie in an attack at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.

According to New York state police, Reese, 73, was moderating a planned lecture by Rushdie when he suffered a minor head injury when a man rushed onto the stage and stabbed Rushdie in the neck and abdomen.

State police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said Reese was treated at a hospital for a facial injury and was released.

Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. Rushdie remained hospitalized Saturday.

Reese and Rushdie had been slated to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.

Reese released a statement describing Rushdie as “one of the great authors of our time and one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression. We revere him, and our paramount concern is for his life.

“The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations…. As Americans and citizens of the world, we need to re-commit ourselves to defending the values Salman has championed.”

City Books of Pittsburgh and Artists at Risk Connection are among organizations that have posted online well wishes for Reese and Rushdie.

Authorities identified the suspect in the attack as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J. The motive for the attack was unclear.

Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes and an outspoken critic of religious extremism.

Widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest living writers, his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was banned in Iran and drew a death order and bounty from country’s leader at the time. That prompted Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program; he remained in seclusion for nine years.

According to the website for City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, a talk Rushdie gave in Pittsburgh in 1997 inspired Reese and Diane Samuels to start a local chapter in the network of sites that offer support for endangered writers in exile.

City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s commitment has been to help writers build a new home and a new life as part of a community. It has rehabilitated houses on Pittsburgh’s Northside for use by writers and has commissioned public artwork for the building facades that incorporates literary text.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.