Salman Rushdie Warns of a “Very Difficult Moment” for Free Speech in the United States

At the Liberatum Cultural Honor ceremony in Camden Town Hall, London, novelist Salman Rushdie accepted the award and used the platform to discuss the state of free expression. The event, moderated by Michael Harris—director of programming at the venue and former founder of Guardian Live—featured a roster that included human-rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, artist Bharti Kher, poet-novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Independent editor-in-chief Geordie Greig, and filmmaker Mozez Singh. Rushdie reflected on his early work in Camden’s Bangladeshi community and linked his literary career to broader struggles over speech.

Variety Magazine

Rushdie argued that the current U.S. administration, referring to the Trump era, is actively undermining a core American value. He highlighted a wave of book removals in school libraries, noting that titles such as *Huckleberry Finn* and Toni Morrison’s *Beloved* have been withdrawn after a single parent’s objection. He credited organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and American PEN for litigating and winning cases that defend challenged works. Emphasizing a principle of presumption in favor of speech, he said the burden of proof should rest on the censor.

Variety Magazine

Rushdie’s commentary is rooted in his own history of literary controversy. The 1988 novel *The Satanic Verses* sparked worldwide protests and a fatwa, an experience he likened to “a fictionalized version of Brick Lane” where demonstrators marched without having read the book. In August 2022, he survived a stabbing by Hadi Matar at the Chautauqua Institution in New York; Matar was convicted of attempted murder in February 2025 and sentenced to 25 years in May 2025. The incident inspired Alex Gibney’s documentary *Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie*, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

Variety Magazine

• “America is having a very difficult moment in this area. We have an administration, and its cohorts, who are really going after one of the most important things about America — the free speech — particularly when they come to speak in Europe, doing their best to suppress it at home.” — Salman Rushdie

Variety Magazine

• “If you look at the history of the persecution of books, it’s very often the case the persecutors have not read the book,” Rushdie said. “100%.” — Salman Rushdie

Variety Magazine

• “There are schools in states in America where one parent can object to a book in a school library, and the book is withdrawn,” — Salman Rushdie

Variety Magazine

• “My view about free speech is that the burden of proof must always lie on the censor. The default setting is that everybody talks.” — Salman Rushdie

Variety Magazine

• “I thought the idea that free speech is defended by the Constitution is a good thing for a country to do.” — Salman Rushdie

Variety Magazine