THE Edinburgh International Book Festival has reaffirmed its intent to provide a “safe space” while also standing up for freedom of speech, following last week’s attack on the writer Salman Rushdie.
In the aftermath of the stabbing of the 75-year-old author of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses at a speaking event in New York, EIBF organisers said that all guests at this year’s festival would be invited to begin their events by reading a sentence from one of Rushdie’s works “as a gesture of solidarity and support.”
Asked if the attack on Rushdie had prompted any changes to security measures at the festival, a spokesperson for the EIBF told the National: “We want everyone to be in a safe space, but also stand up for freedom of speech.”
The spokesperson confirmed that, as in previous years, the festival works with a dedicated security team and with Police Scotland “prioritise author, staff and audience safety.”
Speaking at the festival’s launch on Saturday, EIBF director Nick Barley welcomed the return of the literary institution to the capital, despite the tragic nature of recent events.
Barley said: “Is it fair and correct to have a festival against that backdrop of so much tragedy of Covid? Is it correct and appropriate with all the struggles of the cost-of-living crisis and with the threats to life from violence against the likes of Salman Rushdie?
“Well, yes, because in my view, I have come to think of a festival as a form of defiance.”
Barley added that the festival – which this year hosts over 550 authors and will run until 29 August - stood in spite of those forces that “want to silence us”, saying: “We will not be silenced across the city. We will have a festival and we will celebrate. It's what we can do to resist. This is our defiant moment.”
Since 1989, Rushdie has been the subject of a fatwa calling for his death issued by Iran’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. The subsequent danger to his life led him to spend much of the following decade in hiding.
Iran has “categorically” denied any link with the attack on Rushdie, with Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani suggesting that the author was himself to blame, commenting: "By insulting the sacred matters of Islam and crossing the red lines of more than 1.5 billion Muslims and all followers of the divine religions, Salman Rushdie has exposed himself to the anger and rage of the people."
Rushdie remains in hospital following several hours of surgery on Friday after being staffed 12 times, including in the face and neck. According to a statement from the author’s son Zafar Rushdie, he remains in “critical condition” but was taken off the ventilator on Saturday and has been able to say a few words.
"Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact," the statement adds.
