(London) Salman Rushdie’s account of a knife attack that left him blind in one eye is among the contenders announced Thursday for a prestigious nonfiction book prize.
Rushdie’s memoirs, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murderare among 12 books on the long list for the £50,000 (about CA$89,000) Baillie Gifford Prize.
The 77-year-old novelist said he was attacked at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York in 2022 as he was preparing to give a lecture on protecting writers. A New Jersey man, Hadi Matar, is awaiting trial in the stabbing.
The award judges called the book “brutally clear, honest and, above all, funny.”
Rushdie won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1981 for Midnight’s Children (Midnight’s Children). He spent years in hiding after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or decree, in 1989 calling for his death for alleged blasphemy in his novel. The Satanic Verses (The Satanic Verses).
Other semi-finalists for the non-fiction prize include Australian Richard Flanagan for his memoir Question 7 and several works on the history of Asia, including Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass and A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial by Viet Thanh Nguyen.
Established in 1999, the Baillie Gifford Prize honours books in English from any country, covering topics including current events, history, politics, science, sport, travel and the arts. It has been recognised for introducing an eclectic range of books based on real events to a wider audience.
Last year’s winner was John Vaillant’s climate change thriller, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World.
The finalists for the 2024 prize will be announced on October 10, and the winner will be crowned on November 19 at a ceremony in London.