Halldór Laxness International Literary Prize 2024
September 15, 2024
The President welcomes Salman Rushdie.


The President of Iceland receives the British-American author Salman Rushdie, recipient of the 2024 Halldór Laxness International Literary Prize. Over the course of his career, Rushdie has published fifteen novels, many of which have been translated into Icelandic. His latest work is the autobiographical book Knife, in which Rushdie discusses the assassination attempt made on him in 2022.
The Halldór Laxness International Literary Prize is awarded to authors who are internationally renowned for “contributing to the renewal of the art of storytelling through their works,” echoing the reasoning given for awarding Halldór Laxness the Nobel Prize in 1955. The prize is intended to keep the Nobel laureate’s name prominent on the international stage and is awarded every other year. Previous recipients are Ian McEwan, Elif Shafak, and Andrey Kurkov.
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