A federal judge is scheduled to sentence Hadi Matar on November 3, 2026, two weeks before Salman Rushdie is due to accept a National Book Foundation medal in Manhattan. Matar, 28, was convicted in July of three federal terrorism charges connected to the 2022 stabbing and could receive a life sentence, according to PBS News and The Guardian.
The November dates
Rushdie will receive the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters medal at the National Book Awards ceremony on November 18. Novelist Kiran Desai is scheduled to present it, and awards will also be given in five competitive categories, the Associated Press reported. The honor, established in 1988, includes a $10,000 prize.
Rushdie is the award’s 39th recipient and the fourth born outside the United States, following Saul Bellow of Canada, Isabel Allende of Chile and Art Spiegelman of Sweden, the AP reported. The National Book Foundation has described his work as connecting readers across borders, according to the AP.
The criminal case
What the sentencing data shows
National sentencing data does not establish how often federal terrorism convictions result in life sentences. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, 38 sentenced individuals—0.1% of fiscal 2024 cases with complete Chapter Three guideline information—had an offense involving a federal crime of terrorism, a broad national comparison that does not predict Matar’s sentence. For additional context, the commission says the average sentence for individuals convicted of support to terrorism was 111 months in its fiscal-year 2021-through-2025 national-defense data. That category covers broader national-defense offenses and is not directly comparable to Matar’s charges or a forecast of the sentence he will receive.
Matar was convicted of engaging in transnational terrorism and attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah, among the federal charges brought against him. Prosecutors linked the attack to the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the publication of Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, while also citing material associated with Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group in Lebanon, PBS reported.
Before the federal case, a New York state jury convicted Matar of attempted murder and he received a 25-year state prison sentence. He attacked Rushdie on August 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution amphitheater in western New York, stabbing him 15 times. Rushdie lost sight in his right eye and sustained other serious injuries, according to PBS and The Guardian.
Rushdie testified during the federal trial that he believed he was dying after the assault. The account follows earlier testimony he gave in the state proceeding, which was previously reported by Hoodline.
A career recognized after the attack
Rushdie, born in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, has published more than 20 books. Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize and later received the Booker of Bookers and Best of the Booker honors. His 2024 memoir, Knife, was his only competitive National Book Award nomination, and it is the basis for a documentary by Alex Gibney scheduled for release on September 17, 2026, the AP reported.
The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, prompted protests among Muslims worldwide and led Khomeini to issue the death threat that forced Rushdie into hiding for years. Rushdie later described those years in his 2012 memoir Joseph Anton, a name formed from the first names of Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov, according to Jonkers Rare Books.
Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007. He received the German Book Trade’s Peace Prize in 2023 and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize’s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award in 2025. He has also continued to advocate for freedom of expression, according to the Associated Press.
The National Book Foundation will present a second honor at the ceremony to pediatrician and literacy advocate Perri Klass. The Literarian Award recognizes service to the American literary community; previous recipients include Maya Angelou, Terry Gross and Roxane Gay.
