Salman Rushdie has begun a long "road to recovery," his agent said Sunday, two days after the renowned novelist was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at an event in western New York.

"The injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction," Rushdie's agent Andrew Wylie said in a statement to The Washington Post, noting that the process would be a lengthy one.

The family of Salman Rushdie said they were "very relieved" he has been taken off a ventilator following his stabbing, and the British author had retained his "defiant sense of humour", his son said Sunday.

"We are extremely relieved that yesterday he was taken off the ventilator," his son Zafar tweeted. "His usual feisty & defiant sense of humour remains intact."

Rushdie, 75, was attacked on stage Friday, moments before he was to be interviewed as part of a lecture series. The suspected attacker was apprehended at the scene and pleaded not guilty on Saturday to attempted murder charges.

The British author had been living under an effective death sentence since 1989 when Iran’s then supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a religious decree, or fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill the writer.

The fatwa followed publication of the novel “The Satanic Verses” which sparked fury among some Muslims who believed it was blasphemous.