Author Salman Rushdie, who spent years in hiding and under police protection after Iranian officials called for his execution, was attacked and stabbed in the neck Friday while onstage in Chautauqua, near Erie in western New York, state police said.

The attack, which shook the literary world, happened about 11am, shortly after Rushdie, 75, took the stage for a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, a community in western New York that offers arts and literary programming during the summer.