The Adelaide Festival is facing an unprecedented crisis after nearly 50 prominent authors and speakers withdrew from its 2026 Writers’ Week, according to theguardian.com. The mass boycott follows the board’s decision to dump Palestinian-Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah from the programme, a move critics have branded “gross discrimination”.
By Friday afternoon, the festival was forced to unpublish its participants’ page as high-profile names, including Helen Garner, Trent Dalton and Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser, joined the protest. The Australia Institute also withdrew its sponsorship, citing a betrayal of “freedom of expression”.
The festival board justified the removal of Abdel-Fattah, a Macquarie University academic, by citing “cultural sensitivity” following the recent Bondi terror attack. While the board explicitly stated Abdel-Fattah had no connection to the tragedy, they pointed to her “past statements” regarding Israel as the catalyst for the decision.
Abdel-Fattah, who has previously faced criticism from Jewish organisations and the Coalition for her anti-Zionist views, called the association with the Bondi tragedy “obscene”.
“I cannot believe in 2026… I am now having to say publicly ‘I have nothing to do with the Bondi atrocities’,” she told the ABC. She has demanded a formal apology and reinstatement.
The fallout has split the literary community. While former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr supported the board, suggesting some of Abdel-Fattah’s rhetoric was “counterproductive,” the majority of scheduled speakers disagreed.
Evelyn Araluen, the Stella Prize-winning poet described the move as a “betrayal” and a “spectacle of censorship”.
Hannah Kent, The Burial Rites author labelled the axing a “gross act of discrimination”.
Sarah Krasnostein and Peter Greste, both confirmed they would not participate, alongside several ABC presenters.
The festival board released a brief statement acknowledging the withdrawals, noting they had “temporarily unpublished” the schedule while “working through changes.”
This is the second time in a year that a major Australian literary event has imploded over the silencing of Palestinian voices, following a similar mass walkout at the Bendigo Writers’ Festival in 2025.
•Featured image: Palestinian Australian Randa Abdel-Fattah/Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian
