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When the board of a South Australian festival cut a prominent Palestinian Australian author from its lineup, citing her “past statements” in the context of the deadly Bondi terror attack, it no doubt braced itself for controversy.
What it may not have foreseen, however, is an implosion.
Five days after the Adelaide festival board announced it had removed Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from its writers’ week lineup, more than 180 speakers had boycotted the event, almost the entire board along with the festival’s director had resigned, and the 2026 writers’ week had been cancelled.
On Thursday 8 January, the board released a statement confirming Abdel-Fattah, a critic of Israel, would no longer appear at the festival, citing “cultural sensitivity” concerns after a review in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
The board said that it did not suggest “in any way” that Abdel-Fattah had a connection with the December shooting deaths of 15 people at Bondi beach on the first day of the Jewish festival Hanukah, allegedly by two men inspired by Islamic State.
The statement continued that the decision was made “given her past statements”.
Abdel-Fattah, who is Palestinian Australian, has faced sustained criticism from Australia’s conservative opposition, some Jewish bodies and media outlets for comments on Israel, including alleging Zionists had “no claim or right to cultural safety”.
On Tuesday, Abdel-Fattah rejected any suggestion she had made antisemitic comments in the past, telling ABC Radio Adelaide that she had “never, ever called for Jews to be unsafe”.
“Zionism is not a racial or religious identity, it is a political ideology. It is as absurd as saying that communists have the right to cultural safety or Islamism or white supremacy or misogyny,” she said.
“I have sat in rooms where people have said that ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is justified. I am entitled to say there should be no space for people to call for genocide.”
Abdel-Fattah also faced backlash for posting “May 2025 be the end of Israel” and changing her profile picture to a picture of a Palestinian paratrooper after the 7 October attacks.
Abdel-Fattah told the ABC in an interview she had used the image when she had “no idea about the death toll”.
“Of course, I do not support the killing of civilians,” she said.
After the board’s decision was made public, Abdel-Fattah accused it of “blatant and shameless” anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.
She said the board’s attempt to associate her with the Bondi massacre was “despicable”.
The same afternoon, a string of Australian writers, publishers and thinktanks issued their own withdrawal statements. The former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, the bestselling author Zadie Smith, Russian American journalist Masha Gessen, the Pulitzer prize-winning writer Percival Everett and one of Australia’s most decorated writers, Helen Garner, dropped out in the days that followed.
On Tuesday 13 January, the director of Adelaide writers’ week, which is part of Adelaide festival, followed suit.
Louise Adler, who is also one of Australia’s most influential literary figures and a member of the progressive Jewish Council of Australia, announced her resignation in an opinion piece published in Guardian Australia.
“I cannot be party to silencing writers, so with a heavy heart I am resigning from my role as the director of the AWW,” wrote Adler.
“Writers and writing matters, even when they are presenting ideas that discomfort and challenge us. We need writers now more than ever, as our media closes up, as our politicians grow daily more cowed by real power, as Australia grows more unjust and unequal.”
Hours later, the board announced Adelaide writers’ week could “no longer go ahead as scheduled” and apologised to Abdel-Fattah for “how the decision was represented”.
It said all remaining members of the board would step down immediately, with the exception of a local council representative whose term expired in February.
“As a board we took this action out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event,” the board said in a statement.
“Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies.”
In a statement, Abdel-Fattah said she rejected the festival board’s apology, accusing it of being “disingenuous” and saying it “adds insult to injury”.
“It is clear that the board’s regret extends to how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself,” she wrote.
The South Australian government, which has denied that it exerted pressure on the festival’s leadership to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, announced the members of a new board on Tuesday evening.
The minister for the arts, Andrea Michaels, said the festival was a “treasured institution” that “transcends any individual”.
Adelaide writers’ week is Australia’s largest free literary festival, drawing more than 160,000 people last year and contributing $62.6m to South Australia’s economy. It is jointly funded by the state government and philanthropists.
Adler told Guardian Australia the cancellation of AWW was “no surprise”.
“It was untenable,” she said. “There were 165 sessions and as of yesterday at about 4pm, only 12 events had a full complement of writers left. Seventy percent of all the writers had withdrawn. You can’t stitch that back together.”
