He was about to give a talk in Chautauqua, in western New York, when a man attacked him with a knife.
British author Salman Rushdie was stabbed on Friday, Chautauqua County police confirmed to AFP.
The writer's condition is unknown at this time.
Several hundred people were gathered in this conference center, where Rushdie had already intervened in the past.
They were removed from the room.
Bounty head
By publishing the controversial book
The Satanic Verses,
Rushdie had become the target of a fatwa from the Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. A bounty of 3 million dollars was then offered to anyone who killed the writer.
More info to come
World
Salman Rushdie denounces the West's "stupid blindness" in the face of jihadism
Culture
War in Ukraine: Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and 1,000 writers condemn a "senseless war"
World
Islam
writer
UK
UNITED STATES