LONDON (AP) Writer Salman Rushdie has made a public speech, nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, warning that freedom of expression in the West is under its most severe threat in his lifetime.

Rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award on Monday evening.

Organizers said the honor acknowledges the determination of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the ongoing threats they face.

He said that we live in a moment, I think, at which freedom of expression, freedom to publish has not in my lifetime been under such threat in the countries of the West.