Overview

• During his first major UK appearance since the 2022 attack, Rushdie thanked jurors and said he was glad his attacker received a 25-year prison term.
• He said finishing his memoir 'Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder' delivered closure on the attack’s aftermath.
• Rushdie warned that AI poses no real threat to authors until it can craft genuinely funny books.
• He underscored the importance of fables in a truth-fractured world and previewed his new short story collection 'The Eleventh Hour'.
• Hay Festival security included bag checks, police officers and sniffer dogs to safeguard the author’s return to public events.