The Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie has received the German book trade’s Peace Prize. With a view to the war against Ukraine and the terror of Hamas, the author used his speech to appeal to freedom.
Salman Rushdie has been awarded the German Book Trade Peace Prize. At the ceremony in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche, the 76-year-old writer accepted the award to great applause.
The Peace Prize is endowed with 25,000 euros and is considered one of the most important literary awards in the country. Honored are people who have contributed to the realization of the idea of peace. The award ceremony marks the end of the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair.
Rushdie calls in defense of the freedom of speech on
“We live in a time that I never thought I would have to live through,” Rushdie said in his acceptance speech. “A time in which freedom – especially freedom of expression, without which the world of books would not exist – is under attack on all sides by reactionary, authoritarian, populist, demagogic, half-educated, narcissistic and careless voices.”
The writer called for people to continue to “counter bad speech with better speech.” To do this, you have to counter false narratives with better ones and respond to hate with love, says the author. In addition, one should not give up hope “that the truth can prevail even in a time of lies.”
At the award ceremony, the head of the German Book Trade Association, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, called Rushdie “a person from whom we can learn what courage is.”
Call for Rushdie’s assassination
Rushdie received the award “for his indomitability and his affirmation of life,” as the certificate states. He is “one of the most passionate advocates of freedom of thought and language” – and he does so at great personal risk.
Rushdie became famous with his 1981 masterpiece “Midnight Children.” In 1989, the then Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author’s murder because of Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses.” For more than ten years, Rushdie lived hidden in different locations under constant surveillance. The writer barely survived a knife attack in the USA in 2022 and has been blind in one eye ever since.