Rushdie had been helicoptered to hospital and underwent emergency surgery before being placed on a ventilator.
Celebrated author and winner of the world's top literary prizes, Salman Rushdie showed signs of improvement in hospital on Sunday as the man accused of stabbing him pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges.
Rushdie was earlier taken off a ventilator and can talk again.
His son, Zafar Rushdie said his father was able to say a few words after he was taken off a ventilator, adding that he had his sense of humour.
He had been placed on a ventilator as he was battling for life.
After the on-stage attack on Friday, Rushdie had been helicoptered to hospital and underwent emergency surgery before being placed on a ventilator.
On Sunday, the acclaimed author’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said Rushdie had come off the ventilator and that his condition was improving.
“The road to recovery has begun," Wylie, wrote in an email to Reuters. "It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction."
Wylie also told the New York Times that Rushdie had started to speak again on Sunday, suggesting his condition had improved.
SaharaReporters saw a note his son, Zafara, celebrity relations, event and PR consultant tweeted on Sunday that his father was still in critical condition.
He said, “Following the attack on Friday, my father remains in critical condition in hospital receiving extensive ongoing medical treatment. We are extremely relieved that yesterday he was taken off ventilator and additional oxygen and he was able to say a few words.
“Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humour remains intact. We are so grateful to all the audience members who bravely leapt to his defence and administered first aid along with the police and doctors who have cared for him and for the outpouring of love and support from around the world. We ask for continued patience and privacy as the family come together at his bedside to support and help him through this time.”
Suspect Hadi Matar, 24, was arraigned in court in New York state but he pleaded not guilty.
According to prosecutors, Rushdie was stabbed approximately 10 times in what they described as a planned, premeditated assault.
Rushdie, whose writings generated death threats, was stabbed in the neck at a literary event in upstate New York, United States on Friday.
The assailant stormed the stage soon after his introduction.
SaharaReporters on Friday reported that the police detained the suspect named Matar from Fairview, New Jersey.
Rushdie, who won the Booker Prize for his novel “Midnight’s Children”, was unable to speak.
His agent, Andrew Wylie, said “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
The suspect was from Fairview, New Jersey. He had faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses.”
The book forced him into hiding after it was banned in Iran and a $3 million bounty was put on his head.
The Iranian government distanced itself from the bounty, according to the AP, but the fatwa has been continued by a semi-official religious organisation, which raised the bounty to $3.3 million.
Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his work and has been awarded many of the top literary prizes, including two Whitbread Prizes for Best Novel.
He was scheduled to sit on a panel alongside Henry Reese, president of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, an organisation that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution.