Salman Rushdie to release first major work since stabbing

BRITISH-AMERICAN novelist Salman Rushdie will publish his first major work of fiction since the brutal stabbing that blinded him in one eye, his publisher said on Thursday (27).

The Eleventh Hour, is a collection of short stories examining themes and places of interest to Rushdie who narrowly escaped death during the 2022 attack. It will be released on November 4, 2025.

The would-be assassin, Hadi Matar, was convicted of attempted murder at a trial in upstate New York at which Rushdie gave vivid testimony about the incident.

"The three novellas in this volume, all written in the last twelve months, explore themes and places that have been much on my mind - mortality, Bombay, farewells, England (especially Cambridge), anger, peace, America," the author said in a statement released by Penguin publishing.

"I'm happy that the stories, very different from one another in setting, story and technique, nevertheless manage to be in conversation with one another, and with the two stories that serve as prologue and epilogue to this threesome."

Matar was found guilty of stabbing Rushdie about 10 times.

At the trial, Rushdie discussed his book, Knife, which he wrote after the attack, describing the violent attempt on his life and his recovery from a variety of injuries.

Matar, from New Jersey, previously told media he had only read two pages of The Satanic Verses, but believed the author had "attacked Islam."