The latest act of violence on someone involved in publishing Rushdie's 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, which provoked controversy around the world and even resulted in a fat, has been charged with attempted murder.
Rushdie will be at the festival in October.
The man from New Jersey is being held without bail after being charged with murder and assault.
The backlash from Muslim leaders who said Rushdie's novel was sacrosanct was one of the reasons why Rushdie hid.
Threats against Rushdie and others involved in publishing the book reached a boiling point in 1989 when Iran's Supreme Leader issued a fatwa calling for death for Rushdie and his publishers.
Rushdie was forced to hide in London because he was under police protection.
Rushdie has come to be seen as a champion of free speech in New York City, where he was frequently spotted without any apparent security.
Iran's president said in September 1998 that the Rushdie affair was over, and days later the Iranian foreign minister said the government didn't want to give a reward for Rushdie's death. In October, about 160 members of Iran's parliament agreed Rushdie's death decree was still valid, despite calls for followers to kill him. Other groups have offered rewards for Rushdie's death.
Rushdie was born in India to a family of non-practicing Muslims, and the book caused deadly protests there. Four bombs were planted outside of British bookstores in 1989. Several people who helped publish the novel have been attacked. Hitoshi Igarashi was murdered in 1991 at the Tokyo-area university where he taught comparative Islamic culture. Police said there was no evidence linking Igarashi's killing to his work on The Satanic Verses, but the book's publisher in Japan received death threats and Igarashi used bodyguards. The Italian translator of the novel was stabbed in his Milan apartment just days before Igarashi's attack. He said he was attacked by a man who asked for helpTranslating a Muslim pamphlet. The police in Italy couldn't say if the stabbing was connected to the book. Islamic extremists set fire to a hotel in eastern Turkey in 1993 in order to kill the author of a book. 37 people were killed when Nesin escaped. The book's Norwegian publisher was shot outside of his home three months later. 25 years after the charges were filed, Norway's police have not named any of the suspects. Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2007.
The author attacked on stage.
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