Current:Home > MarketsSalman Rushdie receives first-ever Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Salman Rushdie receives first-ever Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award
View Date:2024-12-23 23:44:26
NEW YORK (AP) — The latest honor for Salman Rushdie was a prize kept secret until minutes before he rose from his seat to accept it.
On Tuesday night, the author received the first-ever Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award, presented by the Vaclav Havel Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Only a handful of the more than 100 attendees had advance notice about Rushdie, whose whereabouts have largely been withheld from the general public since he was stabbed repeatedly in August of 2022 during a literary festival in Western New York.
“I apologize for being a mystery guest,” Rushdie said Tuesday night after being introduced by “Reading Lolita in Tehran” author Azar Nafisi. “I don’t feel at all mysterious. But it made life a little simpler.”
The Havel center, founded in 2012 as the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, is named for the Czech playwright and dissident who became the last president of Czechoslovakia after the fall of the Communist regime in the late 1980s. The center has a mission to advance the legacy of Havel, who died in 2011 and was known for championing human rights and free expression. Numerous writers and diplomats attended Tuesday’s ceremony, hosted by longtime CBS journalist Lesley Stahl.
Alaa Abdel-Fattah, the imprisoned Egyptian activist, was given the Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk. His aunt, the acclaimed author and translator Adhaf Soueif, accepted on his behalf and said he was aware of the prize.
“He’s very grateful,” she said. “He was particularly pleased by the name of the award, ‘Disturbing the Peace.’ This really tickled him.”
Abdel-Fattah, who turns 42 later this week, became known internationally during the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East that drove out Egypt’s longtime President Hosni Mubarak. He has since been imprisoned several times under the presidency of Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, making him a symbol for many of the country’s continued autocratic rule.
Rushdie, 76, noted that last month he had received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and now was getting a prize for disturbing the peace, leaving him wondering which side of “the fence” he was on.
He spent much of his speech praising Havel, a close friend whom he remembered as being among the first government leaders to defend him after the novelist was driven into hiding by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s 1989 decree calling for his death over the alleged blasphemy of “The Satanic Verses.”
Rushdie said Havel was “kind of a hero of mine” who was “able to be an artist at the same time as being an activist.”
“He was inspirational to me as for many, many writers, and to receive an award in his name is a great honor,” Rushdie added.
veryGood! (3338)
Related
- How Alex Jones’ Infowars wound up in the hands of The Onion
- 3 women shot after discussion over politics; no arrest made, Miami police say
- West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice appoints wife Cathy to state education board after U.S. Senate win
- SWA Token Fuels an Educational Ecosystem, Pioneering a New Era of Smart Education
- NFL Week 10 winners, losers: Cowboys' season can no longer be saved
- Roland Quisenberry’s Investment Journey: From Market Prodigy to AI Pioneer
- Questions about sexual orientation and gender ID on track to be on US Census Bureau survey by 2027
- Mountain wildfire consumes thousands of acres as firefighters work to contain it: See photos
- Why was Jalen Ramsey traded? Dolphins CB facing former team on 'Monday Night Football'
- Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus keeps her seat in the US House
Ranking
- Texas man accused of supporting ISIS charged in federal court
- A gunman has repeatedly fired at cars on a busy highway near North Carolina’s capital
- Hollywood’s Favorite Leg-Elongating Jeans Made Me Ditch My Wide-Legs Forever—Starting at Only $16
- Slightly more American apply for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at low levels
- What does the top five look like and other questions facing the College Football Playoff committee
- 2 people charged with stealing items from historic site inside Canyonlands National Park
- Union official says a Philadelphia mass transit strike could be imminent without a new contract
- Jimmy Kimmel fights back tears discussing Trump's election win: 'It was a terrible night'
Recommendation
-
Full House's John Stamos Shares Message to Costar Dave Coulier Amid Cancer Battle
-
The Best Lululemon Holiday Gifts for Fitness Enthusiasts, Travelers, and Comfort Seekers
-
Zach Bryan Hints at the “Trouble” He Caused in New Song Dropped After Dave Portnoy Diss Track
-
AI DataMind Soars because of SWA Token, Ushering in a New Era of Intelligent Investing
-
NASCAR Cup Series Championship race 2024: Start time, TV, live stream, odds, lineup
-
Wild winds fuel Southern California wildfire that has forced thousands to evacuate
-
Investigators: Kentucky officers wounded by suspect fatally shot him after altercation
-
Browns GM Andrew Berry on Deshaun Watson: 'Our focus is on making sure he gets healthy'