We are thrilled to announce that the 2025 Sun Valley Writers’ Conference Writer in the World Prize will be awarded, in person, to SALMAN RUSHDIE. The author of 23 fiction and nonfiction books, Rushdie’s name has long been recognized around the world for his brilliant writing and his unfailing courage in defending freedom of speech, sometimes at the risk of his own safety. His latest book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, is a deeply personal account of enduring and surviving an attempt on his life in August of 2022. It is a love story to his wife, Eliza, and all the doctors and physical therapists who helped him recover, along with his global community of readers and fellow writers. We honor Rushdie above all for his amazing body of work, his indelible works of fiction and nonfiction, and for continuing to write them in the face of immeasurable opposition and danger. As you will see today, when he is in conversation with his fellow novelist and great friend COLUM McCANN, Salman Rushdie is many remarkable things, but above all, and always, he is a writer and a teller of stories, and a master at that.

The Writer in the World Prize (https://svwc.com/witw) recognizes a writer whose life’s work embodies a rare combination of literary talent and moral imagination, helping us better understand the world and our place in it. Past recipients include Barry Lopez in 2021, Abraham Verghese in 2023, and Margaret Atwood in 2024.