• Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state.
• The 75-year-old Booker Prize winner suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck.
• Author has faced years of Islamist death threats after publishing The Satanic Verses.

Salman Rushdie, the author who faced years of Islamist death threats after publishing The Satanic Verses, was attacked on stage in New York state.

At the time, the 75-year-old Booker Prize winner was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution.

According to New York State Police, a male suspect stormed the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie and an interviewer.

“Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck,” according to the police statement.

The author was flown to a nearby hospital by helicopter. His current condition is unknown.

According to police, the suspect was apprehended right away.

Following the incident, attendees rush onto the stage, according to a video posted online.

The Indian-born novelist shot to fame in 1981 with Midnight’s Children, which sold over a million copies in the United Kingdom alone.

However, Mr Rushdie’s fourth book, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, forced him to go into hiding for nine years.

The surrealist, post-modern novel infuriated some Muslims, who saw its content as blasphemous, and was banned in some countries.

A year after the book was published, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini demanded Mr Rushdie’s execution and offered a $3 million (£2.5 million) reward.

Dozens of people were killed in the violence that followed its publication, including the work’s translators.

Although Iran’s government has distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, the bounty on Mr Rushdie’s head remains active.

The author, who holds both British and American citizenship, is a strong supporter of free expression and has defended his work on numerous occasions.

His appearance at the Chautauqua Institution event in western New York was the first in the non-summer profit’s lecture series.

When contacted by the BBC, a spokesman for the organization’s on-site police department declined to comment.

An artist at the venue said that rehearsals had gone on normally until the attack inside the amphitheatre this morning.

She stated that the venue has been placed under lockdown since then.

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