Author Salman Rushdie’s agent reported some good news yesterday — that the esteemed writer has been taken off a ventilator and “the road to recovery has begun.”

Brutally stabbed two days ago at a writer’s event, the assailant is in custody. Fortunately, a doctor in the crowd immediately attended to Rushdie before he was airlifted to a nearby hospital.

“The injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction,” Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said in a statement, adding that the recovery process would be lengthy.

Rushdie’s son Zafar also released a statement confirming that his father was taken off the ventilator and was “able to say a few words.”

“Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humor remains intact,” Zafar Rushdie wrote.

Wylie told the Associated Press that Rushdie had suffered damage to his liver and nerves in one arm and that he would probably lose an eye.