Salman Rushdie is once again the toast of literary Manhattan

Nearly two years after he was stabbed, he was in fine form as he greeted fellow writers at a party celebrating his candid memoir, "Knife." Three security guards stood along a leafy street in Manhattan's West Village Thursday evening, watching a procession of writers, editors and veterans of the publishing industry enter the Waverly Inn restaurant for a book party.

The security team was present because it was not just any book party.

It was a gathering for the release of “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” a new memoir by Salman Rushdie , in which he examines how his life was altered by a violent stabbing nearly two years ago, when he was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua. Western New York Institution.

The episode temporarily placed Mr. Rushdie on a respirator and left him blind in his right eye. (The suspect, Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault.)

When Mr. Rushdie, 76, arrived in the garden of the Waverly Inn, friends and other writers hugged him. He wore a pink shirt, a blazer and a pair of glasses with black tinted straight lenses. His wife, the poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths, stood beside him.

The room was filled with literary powerhouses, including agent Andrew Wylie, the writer Marlon James and the editor. Graydon Carter, whose digital publication Air Mail, hosted the event.

ImageGraydon Carter , left, greeting a guest at his restaurant, the Waverly Inn, where the party took place.Credit...Amir Hamja/The New York Times

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