British author Salman Rushdie made his first public appearance at a writers’ freedom of expression gala in New York on Thursday night since the knife attack that nearly killed him in the US in August. .

The well-known writer of Indian origin, who has obtained American citizenship and lives in New York, received an honorary award from PEN America, an organization defending freedom of expression and literature, of which he was president.

The 75-year-old intellectual, who appeared wearing glasses with a black lens over his right eye, was photographed on the red carpet at the American Museum of Natural History near Central Park in Manhattan.

Rushdie, whose presence at the gala had not been announced in advance, addressed his 700 guests with emotion.

PEN America has never been more “important,” the author said, according to a statement issued by the association that fights for freedom of expression.

“Terrorism should not terrify us. Violence should not discourage us. The fight continues,” he noted in French, Spanish and English.

On August 12, Rushdie had been invited to a literary event in Chautauqua, a small cultural town in northwestern New York state.

When he took the floor, a young Lebanese-American, suspected of being a supporter of Shiite Iran, pounced on him and stabbed him about ten times.

Spectators and guards brought the attacker under control, who was immediately arrested. He has been charged and remanded in custody pending trial.

“If it wasn’t for those people, I certainly wouldn’t be here today. I was the target that day, but they were heroes (…) I owe them my life,” Rushdie noted.

Andrew Wylie’s literary agent revealed in October that the writer had lost the sight in one eye and the use of one hand.

In February, during the release of his latest novel Victory City (“City of Victory”), the author had confided in “The New Yorker” magazine in the first interview he gave after the attack, that he had a hard time writing and that he suffered from post-traumatic stress.

Beloved by elites in the West, hated by Muslim extremists in Iran or Pakistan — some rejoiced at the attack he received — Rushdie is a symbol of freedom of expression.

Since 1989 he has been living under the threat of death following a fatwa issued against him by Iran after the publication of his famous book “The Satanic Verses”.