The German Book Trade Peace Prize was awarded to Salman Rushdie, who was attacked with a knife last year. The speech for the author will be given by his friend Daniel Kehlmann.

Frankfurt/Main – Writer Daniel Kehlmann will be holding honors for this year’s Peace Prize winner Salman Rushdie in the fall. This was announced by the association of German book trading exchanges in Frankfurt. The two writers have been close friends for many years. The 76-year-old Rushdie, who was seriously injured in an attack last summer, will receive the award on October 22 at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.

The Indian-born author was honored “for her inflexibility, her life-affirmation and for the fact that she enriched the world with her love of storytelling,” the foundation’s board confirmed her decision in June. Since his 1981 masterpiece, Midnight Children, Rushdie has been impressed by his interpretations of migration and global politics. In his novels and non-fiction books, he combines narrative foresight with constant literary innovation, humor, and wisdom. “He depicts the power of a violent regime that destroys entire societies, but also the indestructible spirit of individual resistance.”

Rushdie was attacked with a knife and seriously injured while attending college in the United States last summer. He has been blind in one eye since then. The attack comes more than 30 years after Iran’s former revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for the killing of Rushdie’s 1989 novel The Satanic Verses.

Bestselling author Kehlmann (“Measuring the World”) also described the Board of Trustees’ decision as a “sign of solidarity”. “If you live in such a way that life is threatened, then that is not an empty gesture, it means something. And everything that emphasizes the fact that he was a very great writer, a trendsetting writer in his generation and in our time, that is also very important, ” said the 48-year-old in June on the 3sat program “Kulturzeit”. .

The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, a professional organization of publishers and bookstores, has been giving away a prize of EUR 25,000 since 1950. This award is given to people who have contributed to realizing the idea of ​​peace in literature, science or art. This award is usually given at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Last year, Ukrainian writer Serhij Zhadan received the award. dpa