Hanif Kureishi, a British screenwriter nominated for an Oscar, disclosed that his famous novelist colleague Salman Rushdie had written to him daily since his near-fatal collapse in Rome a month ago.
The 68-year-old author of “My Beautiful Laundrette” stated in a Twitter post last week that he experienced a dangerous fall after feeling dizzy after a stroll through the Italian city and awoke in a “pool of blood” with his neck in “a grotesquely twisted position.”
He wrote, “I believed I was dying.” I thought I had three breaths remaining.
After undergoing spine surgery, Kureishi has shared updates on his condition from his hospital bed, warning his followers that he fears he may never be able to handle a pen again.
On Monday, the author of “The Buddha of Suburbia” shared with his admirers that he had been receiving encouraging notes from Rushdie, who was stabbed 10 times in August while preparing to deliver a lecture in western New York.
“My friend Salman Rushdie, one of the bravest men I know, a man who has stood up to the most evil form of Islamofascism, writes to me every single day to encourage patience,” tweeted Kureishi. “He ought to know. He gives me courage.”
The 75-year-old author of “Satanic Verses,” who spent years in hiding after being accused of ridiculing Islam and receiving death threats from Iran, suffered nerve damage in one hand and blindness in one eye.
Hadi Matar, a 25-year-old Lebanese-American, is suspected of attempting to murder and assaulting Salman Rushdie. Matar has pled not guilty to the allegations.
After his arrest, Mata, from New Jersey, told The Post in an exclusive jailhouse interview that he was “surprised” that Rushdie survived the knife attack.
In August, 75-year-old Rushdie was attacked and stabbed 10 times while delivering a speech in western New York.
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The thirteenth novel of Salman Rushdie, “Victory Day,” will be published next month. According to his acquaintances, he is in excellent spirits and his sense of humor is “intact.”
Kureishi has been blogging openly about his physical and emotional state on Twitter, stating that he suffers from “paralysis” and self-deprecatingly referring to himself as a “vegetable” and a “cripple.”
In a post on Tuesday, however, the nominee for the Academy Award in 1986 revealed to his followers that he was optimistic after being able to see “the Italian sky through the window, some trees and a cloud, and a few birds.”
Hadi Matar, a 25-year-old Lebanese-American, was arrested and charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing Salman Rushdie.
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Kureishi penned, “For the first time, I thought things might begin to improve.” My heart is like a bird that sings… I began to sense that I had a complete body, as opposed to a collection of disparate parts cobbled together by Mary Shelley’s imagination.”
More than three decades ago, a film adaptation of Kureishi’s novel “Laundrette,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, was nominated for a BAFTA and an Oscar.
In 1993, “The Buddha of Suburbia,” his 1990 best-selling novel, was adapted into a television series starring David Bowie.