Author Salman Rushdie has been airlifted to hospital after being stabbed up to 15 times, including once in the neck, as he prepared to give a speech in upstate New York
His agent, Andrew Wylie, said that the author was currently in surgery for his injuries, but did not have an update on his condition.
Witnesses claim that Rushdie was stabbed ten to fifteen times, as a man approached him from behind before rushing the stage.
He was attending for a discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
Witnesses claimed that his attacker managed to walk off the stage after the stabbing, before being restrained, as people rushed to assist Rushdie - who had been seated when he was assaulted.
Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair that he had been sitting on.
His current condition is not known, and a man has been arrested by New York state troopers. The interviewer speaking to Rushdie also suffered a minor head injury.