Salman Rushdie is in surgery, Reuters news agency quotes his agent as saying.

That's all we have at the moment, we'll bring any more information on his condition as we get it.

The Muslim Council of Britain is the latest organisation to condemn the attack in the US on author Salman Rushdie.

"Such violence is wrong and the perpetrator must be brought to justice," it says in a tweet.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson joins other British politicians condemning the attack, saying he's appalled that Salman Rushdie was stabbed "while exercising a right we should never cease to defend".

"Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay," he says in a tweet.

British MPs have been reacting to the attack on British author Salman Rushdie.

Conservative leadership candidate Rishi Sunak said he was "shocked" to hear of the attack on Rushdie, who he called "a champion of free speech and artistic freedom".

UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he was "horrified" and reiterated a call to "protect writers as much as writing".

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries condemned the "horrifying" attack on a "literary giant and one of the great defenders of freedom of expression".

Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent

Thirty-four years have passed since the publication of Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses, yet his name continues to provoke high emotions in some quarters.

Iran’s government long ago distanced itself from Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa that called for Rushdie's execution and offered a $3 million reward for his murder.

But as recently as 2016, Iranian state-run media outlets added $600,000 to the bounty on his head.

The furore that followed the publication of his book, considered blasphemous by many Muslims, had far-reaching consequences. It sparked a deadly riot in Mumbai, the burning of both his effigy and his books in Britain, and attacks on translators and his Norwegian publisher.

But above all it galvanised large numbers of mostly young, male Muslim activists who wanted to see a more political role for Islam in the world.

Together with the Bosnian War that followed a few years later, the Rushdie affair helped ignite the spark of modern-day violent jihad.

Image source, PA Media

Fellow authors and friends have been posting messages of support to Salman Rushdie, who's one of the biggest names in the literary world.

They include horror writer Stephen King, who stood by Rushdie during the death threats when one US book chain wanted to remove his controversial novel The Satanic Verses from sale. King reportedly told them, external: "You don't sell The Satanic Verses, you don't sell Stephen King."

The man suspected of stabbing Salman Rushdie also attacked an interviewer at the event, New York State Police have confirmed.

Police said the interviewer, who they did not name, sustained a minor head injury.

According to the event's billing, Rushdie was due to be joined by Henry Reese.

Reese is co-founder and president of the Pittsburg non-profit City of Asylum, which was founded in 2004 to provide sanctuary in Pittsburgh to writers exiled under threat of persecution.

Reese had been inspired to start the organisation after hearing a talk by Rushdie in 1997, according to the organisation's website.

More now from a press conference by the New York state governor.

Kathy Hochul pays tribute to the police officer who "saved [Rushdie's] life", and that of the event moderator who was attacked as well.

She describes Chautauqua, the town where the attack took place, as "a very tranquil rural community" and an "ideal" place for notable figures like Rushdie to talk.

Hochul goes on to condemn the violence, saying it's important people feel free to "speak and to write truth".

An doctor who was at the Chautauqua Institution event has told the New York Times that she helped treat Rushdie after the stabbing.

Rita Landman told the Times that Rushdie had suffered from several stab wounds, including one to the right side of his neck.

She added that a pool of blood had formed under his body on stage.

Rushdie was not receiving CPR at the time and appeared to be alive.

"People were saying, 'He has a pulse, he has a pulse he has a pulse,'" she said.

New York state governor Kathy Hochul confirms at a press conference that Rushdie is still alive.

Rushdie is "getting the care he needs" after being taken to hospital, says Hochul.

More information is being gathered about the perpetrator, she adds.

A helicopter was seen leaving the site where author Salman Rushdie was attacked, while he was on stage in New York state.

Police said he suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has condemned the "shocking and appalling" attack on British author Salman Rushdie.

"It is an attack on freedom of speech and thought, which are two bedrock values of our country and of the Chautauqua Institution," he tweeted.

He says he hopes the perpetrator experiences full accountability and justice, and wishes Rushdie a quick and full recovery.

New York State Police say they took a suspect into custody at the scene.

In a statement earlier, they also confirmed that Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was flown by helicopter to a local hospital. They said his condition was unknown.

John Sudworth
New York Correspondent

The reaction has been one of stunned shock and anger.

Salman Rushdie has long made New York his home, and PEN America, an organisation that campaigns for freedom of expression said it was "reeling" at the news of the attack on its former President.

We don't yet know the motives of Salman Rushdie's attacker. But he's a man who has lived much of his life under the threat of assassination for his literature.

"Rushdie has long understood free speech’s necessity. He is among its strongest advocates," said a statement from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

"His voice will never be silenced."

Mark Sommer of Buffalo News has been hearing from more eyewitnesses. He tells the BBC News Channel that the attacker apparently emerged from the audience wearing a black mask, jumped on stage and began attacking Rushdie.

Shortly after, ten to 15 people who were there to see the talk rushed to Rushdie's aid and subdued the assailant. Rushdie was on the ground for five minutes or so before being helped up and walked off the stage. He was later evacuated by helicopter.

Sommer said that Rushdie often travelled with a lot security.

"It's hard to believe he wouldn't have had significant security [with him]," he says.

"Apparently it was literally within seconds from the start of the programme that this attacker rushed the stage."

A witness to the attack tells the BBC News Channel that those in attendance are "still reeling" from the events.

"It was just an absolutely horrific thing to witness," says Carl Levan.

He says he was sitting 14 or 15 rows back in the covered amphitheatre in New York state when the attack happened.

Rushdie was "repeatedly stabbed" after his attacker ran onto the stage from the audience's left, Levan says.

An authors' free speech group which Salman Rushdie used to lead writes of its "shock and horror" following news of the "brutal, premeditated" assault.

"We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil," says a statement from PEN America.

Rushdie, the former president of the organisation, has spent "tireless energy" assisting others who are menaced despite receiving threats to his own life for decades, writes the organisation's CEO, Suzanne Nossel.

Nossel's statement goes on to say that Rushdie had emailed her just hours before the incident, offering help with placements for Ukrainian writers.

"We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced," she adds.

New York governor Kathy Hochul says she has directed police to assist "however needed" with the investigation into the stabbing.

In a tweet, Hochul also thanks the police and first responders who helped after the incident.

"Our thoughts are with Salman & his loved ones following this horrific event," she writes.

If you're just joining us, here's what we know so far in the attack of British author Salman Rushdie in Chautauqua, New York:

• State police have confirmed that Salman Rushdie has suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck
• He was flown by helicopter to a local hospital, police said
• A suspect has been taken into custody after he ran onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer, who has also sustained a minor head injury
• A receptionist at the Chautauqua Institution has confirmed to the BBC that an "emergency" is taking place at the venue
• Rushdie was on stage at the not-for-profit Chautauqua Institution in western New York when he was attacked
• The event, billed as Salman Rushdie & Henry Reese, was part of a series looking at "redefining the American home" in the 21st Century and was set to feature a "discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression"

Image source, HoratioGates3/BBC

Iranian state-run media outlets added $600,000 to a bounty for the killing of Salman Rushdie in 2016, Reuters news agency reported at the time, external.

Some $3m (£2.5m) was originally offered for his execution in 1989 by the then Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, over the publishing Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses.

The book sparked outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content blasphemous, and it was banned in some countries.

On the 27th anniversary of the original edict, Iran's Fars news agency published a list of 40 news outlets adding to the bounty - with Fars itself earmarking $30,000.

While Iran's government has distanced itself from Khomeini's decree, Reuters reported in 2016 that Iranian hardliners said it was irrevocable and eternal after his death.