In short:
The Adelaide Festival board decided last week to rescind an invitation for author Randa Abdel-Fattah to speak at Adelaide Writers’ Week.
All board members have now resigned and AWW 2026 has been cancelled following more than 180 writers pulling out of the event.
What’s next?
The Adelaide Festival, which AWW is a part of, will run from February 27 to March 15.
Here is their statement on their website.
Check this out:
We also apologise to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was represented […]
They’re doing one of those classic bullshit non-apologies. “Sorry you misunderstood” rather than admitting fault. They completely fucked it up, and now even while cancelling the event they cannot bring themselves to take responsibility for it. That’s low.
Full quote from the article:
“We also apologise to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was represented and reiterate this is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history.”
I don’t think it’s the apology that they think it is. Heavily paraphrasing: “it’s not about who you are or what you’ve done personally. It’s about your heritage and the dirty bloodline that represents after bad actors committed an atrocity.”
What a complete clusterfuck. I hope those who supported (and financed) the ousting of Abdel-Fattah are exposed for the scum they are.
