"Harry Potter" writer J.K. Rowling received a public threat after condemning the attack on British author Salman Rushdie.
The big picture: Multiple authors weighed in on the attack on Rushdie, denouncing any violence against authors and writers.
Driving the news: Rowling said the attack on Rushdie — who was stabbed at an event in New York Friday afternoon and remains hospitalized — was "horrifying."
- "Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok," she wrote.
- “Don’t worry you are next," replied a user under the name Meer Asif Aziz, who was described as a "student, social activist, political activist and research activist" in his Twitter bio, per Deadline.
- Rowling asked Twitter Support for help. She later said police were involved.
State of play: Other popular authors have weighed in on the attack on Rushdie.
- Stephen King said he hoped Rushdie "is okay." He later tweeted, "What kind of a--hat stabs a writer, anyway? F--er!"
- James Patterson tweeted that he was "shocked" and "deeply saddened by the continued acts of violence in today's world. Tragic events like these are too common these days."
- Ian McEwan, the Booker-prize-winning author, said the “appalling attack" on Rushdie “represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech," The Guardian reports.
- Margaret Atwood, writer of "The Handmaid's Tale," retweeted a number of posts about Rushdie.
- Taslima Nasrin, a writer on women's oppression, said that she thinks "the man who wanted to kill Rushdie for writing Satanic Verses hasn't read Satanic Verses. I think the Islamists who want to kill me for writing books have not read any of my books."
- PEN International, an association of writers, said, "No one should be targeted, let alone attacked, for peacefully expressing their views."
