Could you pinpoint the moment when it seemed like it was finally safer for Rushdie to be out and about in public again?

I don’t think there was a particular moment. It was gradual, and I think the more time passed, the more Rushdie and other bookstores felt safe to promote his book and for Rushdie to speak publicly with less security. But for the first decade, from roughly 1989 to 1999, it was a tough time for Rushdie and his security. One of the key turning points were the decision [in 1998] by the Iranian regime to offer guarantees it would not carry out the fatwa.

What became a sticking point is that even though that was the position of the regime, you still had elements within Iran, these charitable foundations run by hard-line conservative groups, who would say that “We still will reward anyone with financial compensation if they carry out the killing.” There were different messages coming out of Iran, but the government kept saying, We can’t control what everyone says in our country, but it’s not state policy. So for Rushdie, it took at least a decade before the issue started to become less concerning in terms of his personal safety, and he was allowed to travel freely and not go into hiding.