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| Salman Rushdie | |
This morning at 11 a.m. Eastern, a reading of Salman Rushdie's works will be held on the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Ave. Called "Stand with Salman: Defend the Freedom to Write," the event has been organized by PEN America (Rushdie is a past president), his publisher Penguin Random House, the NYPL and House of SpeakEasy. It will feature readings by authors who are close to Rushdie, including Paul Auster, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Tina Brown, Kiran Desai, Andrea Elliott, Amanda Foreman, Roya Hakakian, A.M. Homes, Siri Hustvedt, Hari Kunzru, Colum McCann, Andrew Solomon, Gay Talese and others. The event will be livestreamed.
Organizers are encouraging others to host public readings around the globe as well as online with the hashtag #StandWithSalman "to remind Rushdie of both the affection that writers and readers have for him and their solidarity with his unrelenting belief in the right of writers to create without fear of reprisal."
In a statement released yesterday, the American Booksellers Association's board of directors said: "We want to express our shock, outrage and deep concern for novelist Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum Bookstore and a fellow bookseller and colleague. We send our personal wishes for healing and strength to Rushdie, Reese, their families and communities. Like many of you, we are alarmed and we are sad. In chorus with ABA's letter to membership this week and the statement from ABFE yesterday in BTW, our Board wants to respond personally to this horrific event and acknowledge the real danger to our industry that it represents. Anytime one of our own is attacked it affects each of us, deeply and profoundly. We stand with you and wish you nothing but the very best. We are proud of the work we, as booksellers, do every day to bring books and conversations to our communities.
"We remain determined to continue championing and protecting the voices, such as Rushdie's, that others are attempting to silence. These are times for compassion and courage, which we know the independent bookselling community has in multitudes."