Blood and terror: witnesses tell of attack on Salman Rushdie at literary festival

Arts event interrupted by screams as people rushed to render aid to the novelist and subdue his assailant

Salman Rushdie: author in surgery after being stabbed in New York - live

The Chautauqua summer arts festival in upstate New York is normally a calm and pleasant affair, drawing thousands of literary-minded people eager to commune with their favorite writers.

That changed dramatically on Friday, when the famed novelist Salman Rushdie, who had just walked on to a stage to give a lecture, was stabbed by a man wielding a knife - transforming the faculty-lounge atmosphere into a blood-spattered scene.