London: Salman Rushdie's account of a stabbing attack that blinded him in one eye is among the contenders announced Thursday for a prestigious nonfiction book prize. Rushdie's memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder is among 12 books on the long list for the 50,000 pound (USD 66,000) Baillie Gifford Prize.
The 77-year-old novelist recounts being attacked at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York in 2022 as he was about to deliver a lecture on keeping writers safe from harm. A New Jersey man, Hadi Matar, is awaiting trial for the stabbing. Prize judges called the book brutally clear, honest and, best of all, funny.
Rushdie won the Booker Prize for fiction in 1981 for Midnight's Children. He spent years in hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death for the alleged blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses. Other semi-finalists for the nonfiction prize include Australia's Richard Flanagan for his memoir Question 7 and several works on Asian history, including Gary J. Bass' Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia and Viet Thanh Nguyen's A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial.
Founded in 1999, the Baillie Gifford Prize recognizes English-language books from any country on current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. It has been credited with bringing an eclectic slate of fact-based books to a wider audience. Last year's winner was John Vaillant's real-life climate-change thriller Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. Finalists for the 2024 prize will be announced on October 10 and the winner will be crowned on November 19 at a ceremony in London.
