Salman Rushdie said he considers himself to be “lucky” in his first interview since being brutally attacked by a knifeman on stage in New York last year. Speaking to the New Yorker, the 75-year-old author said: “What I really want to say is that my main overwhelming feeling is gratitude.” As well as discussing his physical health—including the fact that he has difficulty typing after losing feeling in some of his fingers—Rushdie added: “There have been nightmares—not exactly the incident, but just frightening. Those seem to be diminishing. I’m fine. I’m able to get up and walk around. When I say I’m fine, I mean, there’s bits of my body that need constant checkups. It was a colossal attack.” Rushdie also said he thought of Hadi Matar, the man charged with his attempted murder, as an “idiot.” “All I’ve seen is his idiotic interview in the New York Post,” Rushdie said. “Which only an idiot would do. I know that the trial is still a long way away. It might not happen until late next year. I guess I’ll find out some more about him then.”
