I was with Salman Rushdie when he was stabbed. The ‘reader effect’ saved us

Reading fiction fosters empathy in a polarized world. I've learned how arts organizations can do the same

On 12 August 2022, I was about to begin interviewing Salman Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York when he was attacked. Now, more than two years later, the trial of the attacker has begun.

I was on stage as co-founder of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, part of an international organization inspired by Rushdie to protect exiled, endangered writers in long-term residencies. Shortly after the attack, I wrote about how the audience - an intentional community of readers - rushed to the stage to subdue the attacker. I called this the reader effect", a response based on empathy that comes from reading fiction.

Henry Reese is a retired entrepreneur, who in 2004 co-founded City of Asylum Pittsburgh with his wife, the artist Diane Samuels