An Australian book festival injured a Palestinian writer following a terrorist attack. Then it collapsed Australia News

WWhen the board of a festival in South Australia excluded a prominent Australian-Palestinian author from its lineup, citing her “past statements” in the context of the deadly Bondi terror attack, they were surely braced for controversy.

But what was perhaps not expected was the implosion.

Five days after the Adelaide Festival Board of Directors announced the removal of Dr. Randa Abdel Fattah from the Book Week lineup, more than 180 speakers boycotted the event, almost the entire board and festival director resigned, and Book Week 2026 was cancelled.

On Thursday, January 8, the board issued a statement confirming that Abdel Fattah, a critic of Israel, would no longer appear at the festival, citing “cultural sensitivity” concerns following a review in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack.

The authority said that it did not indicate “in any way” that Abdel Fattah was linked to the shooting deaths of 15 people in December on Bondi Beach on the first day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, at the hands of two men inspired by ISIS.

The statement added that the decision was taken “in view of her previous statements.”

Abdel Fattah, an Australian-Palestinian, has faced sustained criticism from Australia’s conservative opposition, some Jewish bodies and the media over his comments on Israel, including the claim that Zionists have “no claim or right to cultural integrity.”

Abdel-Fattah on Tuesday rejected any suggestion she had made anti-Semitic comments in the past, telling ABC Radio Adelaide she had “never called on Jews to be unsafe”.

She added: “Zionism is not a racial or religious identity, it is a political ideology. It is as ridiculous as saying that communists have a right to cultural safety, or Islamism, or white supremacy, or misogyny.”

“I have sat in rooms where people have said that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is justified. And I have every right to say that there should be no room for people to call for genocide.”

Abdel Fattah also faced backlash for posting the phrase “May 2025 will be the end of Israel” and changing her profile picture to that of a Palestinian paratrooper after the October 7 attacks.

Abdel Fattah told ABC in an interview that she used the photo when she had “no idea how many dead.”

She added: “Of course I do not support the killing of civilians.”

After announcing the commission’s decision, Abdel Fattah accused it of racism and “blatant and shameful” censorship against the Palestinians.

She said the council’s attempt to link her to the Bondi massacre was “despicable”.

The same afternoon, a series of Australian writers, publishers and think tanks issued their own withdrawal statements. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, best-selling author Zadie Smith, Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Percival Everett, and one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, Helen Garner, withdrew from the study in the following days.

On Tuesday 13 January, the director of Adelaide Writers Week, part of the Adelaide Festival, followed suit.

Louise Adler, 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 by The Guardian Australia.

“I cannot be a party to the silencing of writers, so with a heavy heart I will resign from my role as director of AWW,” Adler wrote.

“Writers and writing matter, even when they present ideas that trouble and challenge us. We need writers now more than ever, with our media shut down, with our politicians growing daily more fearful of real power, and with injustice and inequality growing in Australia.”

Hours later, the board announced that Adelaide Writers Week “can no longer go ahead as scheduled” and apologized to Abdel Fattah for “how the decision was represented”.

She said that all remaining members of the council would step down immediately, except for the local council representative whose term expired in February.

“We as a board took this action out of respect for a community experiencing the pain caused by a devastating event,” the board said in a statement.

“Instead, this decision led to further division, and for this reason we express our sincere apologies,” he added.

Abdel Fattah said in a statement that she rejected the festival’s board of directors’ apology, accusing it of being “deceptive” and considering it “making matters worse.”

“It is clear that the board’s regret extends to the manner in which the revocation message was communicated, rather than the decision itself,” she wrote.

The South Australian government, which denied that it had put pressure on the festival’s management to cancel Abdel Fattah’s invitation, announced the members of the new board of directors on Tuesday evening.

Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said the festival was a “cherished institution” that “goes beyond any individual”.

Adelaide Writers Week is Australia’s largest free literary festival, attracting more than 160,000 people last year and contributing $62.6 million to the South Australian economy. It is jointly funded by the state government and philanthropists.

Adler told The Guardian Australia that the AWW’s cancellation was “not surprising”.

“It was untenable,” she said. “There have been 165 sessions, and as of yesterday at about 4 p.m., there were only 12 events left with a full complement of writers. Seventy percent of all the writers had dropped out. You can’t put that back together again.”