Salman Rushdie awarded peace prize

The Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie 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 for freedom. Salman Rushdie awarded the Peace Prize in the German Book Trade. At the ceremony in Frankfurt's Paulskirche, the 76-year-old writer accepted the prize to great applause. The Peace Prize is 25,000 euros and is considered the most important literary award in the country. Honored people have contributed to realization of the idea of ​​peace. The award ceremony marks the end of the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair.

Rushdie calls for the defense of freedom of expression "We live in a time that I never thought I would have to live through," said Rushdie in his acceptance speech. "A time in freedom - especially freedom of expression, without which world of a book not exists - is attack on all sides by reactionary, authoritarian, populist, half-educated, demagogic & careless voices."The writer called for this, continue to “counter bad speech with better speech.” To do this, you have to counter false narrative 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, call Rushdie "a person from whom we can learn." "What courage is".

Call for Rushdie's assassination Rushdie receives the award "for his indomitability and his affirmation of life," as the certificate states. He was "one of the most passionate advocates of freedom thought & language" - & he does so at personal risk. Rushdie became famous with his masterpiece "Midnight Children", published in 1981. In 1989, the then-Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author's murder because of Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses." Rushdie lived hidden in different locations under constant surveillance for more than ten years. The writer survived a knife attack in the USA in 2022 & has been blind in one eye ever since.