After relocating to New York in 2000, Salman Rushdie became one of the most prominent defenders of free expression in American literary life. As President of PEN America and founder of the PEN World Voices Festival, he championed writers facing censorship and persecution around the world. His advocacy made him a leading voice for artistic and intellectual freedom in the United States. When he survived a violent attack during a public lecture in New York in 2022, the event underscored the enduring risks faced by writers and reinforced his symbolic role as a defender of the right to free expression.
