Salman Rushdie Discusses His New Life and Book.

Writer SALMAN RUSHDIE. Two years ago he was nearly killed at a festival about keeping writers safe from harm. He had just come on stage, when an assailant ran onto the stage, came at him with a knife and kept stabbing Rushdie, for 27 seconds. There was so much damage and blood loss, it’s remarkable he survived. RUSHDIE’S attacker is a muslim extremist, who wasn’t even born when the fatwa, a religious ruling, calling for Rushdie's death was issued by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. SALMAN RUSHDIE’s new memoir is called Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.

It's been almost six years since the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence against the author. Since then, Rushdie has lived in hiding, continuing to write and making a few semi-public appearances. His book, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," published in 1990, was a fairy tale written for his son. His new book is collection of stories about the line that divides East and West, called "East, West."

Controversial author Salman Rushdie. Terry last talked to him in late 1990 about his life. For over three years, Rushdie's been in hiding, a result of the reaction to his novel "The Satanic Verses." That novel offended many Muslims and led to the Ayatollah Khomeini putting a one-million-dollar death sentence on Rushdie's head. Just lately, he's begun to travel and make public appearances, even though he's still a target for assassination. Rushdie called us from his hiding place somewhere in Great Britain.