Salman Rushdie, the 76-year-old Booker Prize-winning author and British-American novelist, has been making progress on his recovery journey from a near-fatal knife attack that took place in New York last August. He was stabbed up to 10 times by Hadi Matar, who is now in prison on charges of attempted murder and will face trial later this year.

The Mumbai-born author has been working with a therapist to help him process the mental trauma of the attack, and he has been having “crazy dreams” as a result. Rushdie has been struggling with his decision on whether to attend the trial of his alleged attacker, who has pleaded not guilty. “I don’t have a very high opinion of him,” Rushdie said.

“What is important to me now is that you’re able to find life continuing. I’m more engaged with the business of, you know, getting on with it.” The attack left Rushdie blind in one eye, with nerve damage in his arm causing paralysis in his hand.

He also had to spend six weeks in the hospital and was put on a ventilator. However, Rushdie has expressed his gratitude for the human body’s capacity to heal, saying that he is “fortunate to be well on that way.” He is now writing a book about the near-fatal stabbing incident.

“There’s this colossal elephant in the room and, until I deal with that, it is difficult to take anything else seriously,” Rushdie said. The book will be no more than a “couple of hundred pages” long and will be released after his last book, ‘Victory City’, which was completed just before the attack.

The author’s journey of recovery has been long and difficult. He was also the target of a fatwa issued by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 for his controversial novel ‘The Satanic Verses’, and has received several death threats since then.

Despite all the trauma, Rushdie has found the courage to carry on and move forward. Many people have been inspired by Rushdie’s determination to get on with life despite the physical and mental impact of the attack. His story is a reminder of the strength we all have within us to overcome adversity and keep on going.

So, as Rushdie continues on his road to recovery, he is an inspiration to us all that it is possible to survive and thrive in life’s toughest moments. Keywords: Salman Rushdie, knife attack, recovery, therapy, trial, mental trauma.