In this episode, recorded live at the 2025 Conference, Salman Rushdie, having received the Sun Valley Writers’
Conference Writer in the World Prize, talks with his fellow novelist and great friend Colum McCann.

Rushdie is a writer who needs no introduction: his name has long been recognized around the world for his brilliant writing and his unfailing courage in defending freedom of speech. He was honored for his extraordinary body of work, both fiction and nonfiction – including his memoir Knife:Meditations after an Attempted Murder, his account of the attempt on his life in August of 2022 and how the love of his wife, the writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths, helped him to survive – and for continuing to write in the face of immeasurable opposition and danger.

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.

Photo Credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths

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Welcome to Beyond the Page: The Best of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference. Over the past 30 years, SVWC has become the gold standard of American literary festivals, bringing together contemporary writing’s brightest stars for their view of the world through a literary lens. Every month, Beyond the Page curates and distills the best talks from SVWC, giving you a front row seat on the kind of knowledge, inspiration, laughter, and meaning that we are known for.

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