Rushdie memoir delays accused attacker’s trial

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This article was published 06/01/2024 (1000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The trial of the man accused of stabbing acclaimed author Salman Rushdie in August 2022 has been postponed because of the impending publication of Rushdie’s memoir about the attack.

Hadi Matar is accused of attacking Rushdie while he was on stage at a New York State event, stabbing Rushdie multiple times and leaving him blind in one eye and with limited use of one of his hands.

One of Matar’s lawyers petitioned the presiding judge to delay the trial, which was slated to start Monday, arguing the defence was entitled to see the memoir first, as it constitutes evidence.

Rushdie’s memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, will be published on April 16 by Knopf in Canada.

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The Manitoba Writers’ Guild is now accepting submissions (in both English and French) for the inaugural Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition.

Sponsored by Dr. Kamal Malaker, the competition is named after the Indian poet, writer and philosopher (among other things) who, as the Guild’s website notes, “often celebrated dualities.” As such, the theme for this year’s competition is the transnational experience or the “intersections of multiple cultural heritages within oneself.”

The winner will receive $300, the runner-up $150 and the third-place entrant $50. Entries must be received by April 3; for more information and to enter see wfp.to/j5P.

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Speaking of contests, the CBC Nonfiction prize now open for submissions of original, unpublished work of up to 2,000 words.

Writers can submit their work until March 1 for the prize, which comes with $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. the winning work will also be published on the CBC Books website.

Each entry for the prize costs $25 for “administration purposes;” for more information and to enter, visit wfp.to/j5m.

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The Writers’ Guild will also host Manitoba author Patti Grayson for its January book chat, where she’ll read from and discuss her latest novel The Twistical Nature of Spoons, published in September 2023 by Turnstone Press.

The chat takes place virtually via Zoom on Wednesday from 7-8 p.m.; to obtain the Zoom link, email MWGEvents2022@gmail.com.

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The Winnipeg International Writers Festival is emerging from the haze of the holidays with plenty of plans.

In her latest email missive, executive director Charlene Diehl noted they’re deep into preparing for Thin Air Kids, which will take place in February. To keep tabs on progress see thinairkids.ca.

Festival staff are also nearing completion of Story Lodge, a collection of videos by Indigenous authors about writing and the writing profession. The Story Lodge website will be launched in spring.

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Publishers, booksellers and libraries are getting ready for the announcement of the short list for the 2024 edition of CBC’s Canada Reads.

The 15-book long list will be narrowed down to five titles on Thursday — the same day the panellists defending each of the shortlisted books are revealed.

Among books on the long list are Catherine Leroux’s The Future, Chelene Knight’s Junie, Darrel J. McLeod’s Mamaskatch and Téa Mutonji’s Shut Up You’re Pretty.

Doing well on Canada Reads almost always comes with a bump in sales; the winner and runner-up of the 2023 contest, Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands and Michael Christie’s Greenwood, were the top two sellers in Canada last year.

books@freepress.mb.ca