Adelaide Writers’ Week canceled after mass walkout over disinvited Palestinian author
Adelaide Writers’ Week was cancelled after over 180 authors withdrew following the disinvitation of Australian-Palestinian Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah; most board members resigned and sponsors withdrew.
Overview
More than 180 writers and speakers pulled out of Adelaide Writers’ Week after the festival board disinvited Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, triggering cancellations and multiple resignations.
The board said Abdel-Fattah’s prior statements made her appearance culturally insensitive in the wake of the Bondi Beach antisemitic mass shooting, though it denied any link to the attack.
High-profile withdrawals included Zadie Smith and Jacinda Ardern; the festival director and several board members quit, and some sponsors withdrew financial support, collapsing the event program.
The dispute unfolded amid national debate on free speech, antisemitism and Islamophobia after the Bondi attack that killed 15; federal and state governments are proposing tightened protest and hate-speech laws.
Organizers canceled the six-day Writers’ Week, announced board resignations, and the South Australian government appointed a new Adelaide Festival board to help ensure the wider festival proceeds.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the episode primarily as a free-speech and institutional-failure story, foregrounding the festival’s cancellation and mass withdrawals. Editorial choices—lead placement of the cancellation, emphasis on the board’s failure to cite specific offending statements, and prominent placement of critics’ reactions—shape a narrative critical of the board’s decision while noting Bondi shooting context.
Sources (9)
FAQ
Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian-Palestinian author and academic. The festival board disinvited her citing her prior statements as culturally insensitive following the Bondi Beach antisemitic mass shooting, though denying any direct link to the attack.
History
3 sources