THE BRITISH BOOK AWARD FOR FREEDOM TO PUBLISH SALMAN RUSHDIE


WINNER Salman Rushdie


B


ooker-winning novelist Salman Rushdie is the recipient of The British Book Awards’ second ever Freedom to Publish Award. The


accolade acknowledges that threats to authors, publishers, booksellers and others in this business have not diminished, and that we continue to live in a period of intolerance. This year the award is supported by Index on Censorship. After Rushdie’s fourth novel The Satanic Verses


was published by Penguin in 1988, the author became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa. The events sparked violence around the world, with bookstores and booksellers targeted. Public rallies were held where copies of the book were burned. Several people associated with trans- lating or publishing the book were attacked, seriously injured and even killed. Rushdie went into hiding and a memoir of this period, Joseph


61


Anton (Rushdie’s secret alias), was issued in 2012. Rushdie has continued to advocate for others’


rights to freedom of expression. His most recent book Victory City was published by Vintage in February. None of this is done without risk. On 12th August 2022, a man stabbed Rushdie after rushing onto the stage where the novelist was scheduled to deliver a lecture at an event in New York. He survived, but has lost sight in one eye. A citation by the author Monica Ali read: “It


takes courage to create art. It takes courage to speak truth to power. Art may, in the end, be stronger than censorship, but the artist remains vulnerable. Nobody has been more courageous, more steadfast, more brilliant in the pursuit of truth and artistic freedom than tonight’s recipient.” The British Book Awards is privileged to honour Salman Rushdie.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64