Salman Rushdie, the author of the Satanic Verses, was stabbed on stage at an event at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.

The Booker prize-winning author was speaking to the audience before the assailant ran up to the stage and stabbed Salman in the neck and his torso.

“Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck,” the police statement said.

He was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, by helicopter. No official statement has been released about the extent of his injuries, but New York

Governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference about an hour later that Mr Rushdie was alive.

The assailant was immediately taken to custody. The literary world is in shock and prayers of healing and well-wishes as since been shared on social media.