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US book ban threatens free expression: Salman Rushdie
Rushdie, who has lived in the US since 2000 and became a US citizen in 2016, believes that some of the best books ever, in his opinion, have been banned.
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Rwittika Chakraborty
- Fri, 05, Dec 2025
- 01:58 EST
- 11
Salman Rushdie / Wikipedia
Indian-born British and American novelist, Salman Rushdie, has said that the unprecedented banning of books in parts of the United States threatens free expression.
During a recent conversation with Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain Show, Rushdie addressed the banned books situation in the US and said,
“I would never have imagined it.”
“One of the reasons why people like me wanted to live in America is because of the fact that free speech is enshrined in the Constitution,” added the Booker Prize-winning author.
ALSO READ: Salman Rushdie’s book titled ‘Knife’ based on stabbing
Rushdie, who has lived in the US since 2000 and became a US citizen in 2016, believes that some of the best books ever, in his opinion, have been banned.
According to an advocacy group, PEN America, about 23,000 books have been banned in US public schools since 2021, which it claims is without precedent.
In 2022, Rushdie was nearly killed after being stabbed 15 times on stage in New York by Hadi Matar, who was motivated by the decades-old fatwa calling for the author's death after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses.
ALSO READ: Salman Rushdie attacker faces sentencing
Rushdie further spoke about his advocacy for free speech and said,
“I’ve been involved in quite a lot of free speech issues.”
“My view has always been let voices be heard, especially if I disagree with them. It’s no trick to allow somebody to hold up a placard that you agree with,” he added.
Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’ was banned in India in 1988 by then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, which led the Golden PEN Award winner to publish an open letter in the New York Times in response. The ban was lifted in 2024.
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