Salman Rushdie's Memoir of His Onstage Attack is among Contenders for Top Nonfiction Prize

FILE - Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder”, at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Germany, May 16, 2024. .(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
FILE - Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder”, at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Germany, May 16, 2024. .(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
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Salman Rushdie's Memoir of His Onstage Attack is among Contenders for Top Nonfiction Prize

FILE - Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder”, at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Germany, May 16, 2024. .(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
FILE - Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder”, at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Germany, May 16, 2024. .(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

Salman Rushdie’s account of a stabbing attack that blinded him in one eye is among contenders announced Thursday for a prestigious nonfiction book prize.

Rushdie’s memoir “ Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder ” is among 12 books on the long list for the 50,000 pound ($66,000) Baillie Gifford Prize, The AP reported.

The 77-year-old novelist recounts being attacked at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York in 2022 as he was about to deliver a lecture on keeping writers safe from harm. A New Jersey man, Hadi Matar, is awaiting trial for the stabbing.

Prize judges called the book “brutally clear, honest and, best of all, funny.”

Rushdie won the Booker Prize for fiction in 1981 for “Midnight’s Children.” He spent years in hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death for the alleged blasphemy in his novel “The Satanic Verses.”

Other semi-finalists for the nonfiction prize include Australia’s Richard Flanagan for his memoir “Question 7” and several works on Asian history, including Gary J. Bass’ “Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia” and Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial.”

Founded in 1999, the Baillie Gifford Prize recognizes English-language books from any country in current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. It has been credited with bringing an eclectic slate of fact-based books to a wider audience.

Last year’s winner was John Vaillant’s real-life climate-change thriller “Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World.”

Finalists for the 2024 prize will be announced Oct. 10 and the winner will be crowned Nov. 19 at a ceremony in London.



California Man Wins $50 Million in Lawsuit over Burns from Starbucks Tea

FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
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California Man Wins $50 Million in Lawsuit over Burns from Starbucks Tea

FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
FILE - This is the Starbucks sign on Black Friday shoppers line at a Starbucks kiosk in the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A delivery driver has won $50 million in a lawsuit after being seriously burned when a Starbucks drink spilled in his lap at a California drive-through, court records show.
A Los Angeles County jury found Friday for Michael Garcia, who underwent skin grafts and other procedures on his genitals after a venti-sized tea drink spilled instants after he collected it on Feb. 8, 2020. He has suffered permanent and life-changing disfigurement, according to his attorneys.
Garcia's negligence lawsuit blamed his injuries on Starbucks, saying that an employee didn't wedge the scalding-hot tea firmly enough into a takeout tray.
“This jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” one of Garcia's attorneys, Nick Rowley, said in a statement.
Starbucks said it sympathized with Garcia but planned to appeal, The Associated Press reported.
“We disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive," the Seattle-based coffee giant said in a statement to media outlets, adding that it was “committed to the highest safety standards” in handling hot drinks.
US eateries have faced lawsuits before over customer burns.
In one famous 1990s case, a New Mexico jury awarded a woman nearly $3 million in damages for burns she suffered while trying to pry the lid off a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-through. A judge later reduced the award, and the case ultimately was settled for an undisclosed sum under $600,000.
Juries have sided with restaurants at times, as in another 1990s case involving a child who tipped a cup of McDonald's coffee onto himself in Iowa.