Salman Rushdie: Edinburgh International Book Festival invite authors appearing to read a sentence from one of Salman Rushdie's books after stabbing in New York

The Edinburgh International Book Festival has responded to the news of the attack on Salman Rushdie.

Sir Salman Rushdie is reportedly on a ventilator and may lose an eye after he was stabbed on stage.

It remains unclear why Sir Salman's attacker, identified by police as Hadi Mattar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author on stage at an event in western New York.

Edinburgh International Book Festival has responded to the news, sending their best wished to Sir Salman, and have invited their authors to pay tribute to the author.

Director Nick Barley commented: “As we open this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, we send love and best wishes to Salman Rushdie.

"Salman visited us last in 2019 and joined us online last year.

"We are inspired by his courage and are thinking of him at this difficult time.

"This tragedy is a painful reminder of the fragility of things we hold dear and a call to action: we won’t be intimidated by those who would use violence rather than words.

"As a gesture of support and solidarity we are inviting all authors appearing in the adult programme to read a sentence from one of Salman’s books at the beginning of their Book Festival event.”