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Salman Rushdie was honoured on Sunday at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize ceremony in Ohio, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award just months after releasing his first novel since the stabbing that nearly took his life three years ago.,The Dayton Literary Peace Prize recognises authors whose work combines literary excellence with a commitment to peace, presenting annual awards for fiction, nonfiction, and lifetime achievement. The prize originated in the Ohio city where the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords were signed, bringing an end to the Bosnian War, a conflict that claimed more than 300,000 lives and displaced over a million people.,Now 78, Rushdie remains one of the most influential voices in contemporary literature. Best known for his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, which sparked accusations of blasphemy and led to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa calling for his death, the author spent years in hiding. In 2022, Rushdie was attacked on stage during a lecture in New York, losing sight in one eye. His assailant, who was born long after 'The Satanic Verses' was published, was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year. Despite the trauma, Rushdie’s recent work stands as a testament to his resilience, reaffirming his lifelong dedication to storytelling, freedom, and courage in the face of violence.,While accepting his award, Rushdie reflected on the challenge of writing about peace in an era marked by “inexcusable violence,” citing the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan.,“A book cannot stop a bullet. A poem cannot intercept a bomb,” he said, acknowledging both the limitations and enduring necessity of art in times of war.,Rushdie added that literature allows writers to stand in solidarity with those enduring hardship and with others risking their lives in conflict zones, including journalists.,“We can enlarge their voices by adding our voices to their voices,” Rushdie said. “It can show us the reality of the other. It can show us what life looks like, not from our point of view, but from another point of view.”,Authorities said Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, travelled from his home in Fairview, New Jersey, to Chautauqua, New York, about 70 miles southwest of Buffalo, intending to carry out the decades-old fatwa that called for Rushdie’s death.,Rushdie released his acclaimed memoir 'Knife' in 2024, chronicling the attack that nearly claimed his life. The book became a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. His latest publication, 'The Eleventh Hour', his twenty-third work, features three novellas and two short stories.,Previous recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, feminist icon Gloria Steinem, and writers such as Margaret Atwood, John Irving, Barbara Kingsolver, and Studs Terkel. The honour, formally titled the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, commemorates the American diplomat who helped broker the Dayton Peace Accords.,This year’s other honourees include Kaveh Akbar for his novel 'Martyr!', which follows a poet and son of Iranian immigrants confronting a mysterious family past, and Sunil Amrith for 'The Burning Earth', a historical examination of how empires, wars, and migration have shaped the global environment.
