‘Chilling effect’: Local First Nations author denied literary prize over Palestine post
An unpublished novel about the Stolen Generations won a prestigious $15,000 fellowship from the State Library of Queensland – until the Queensland Government found a tweet by its author.
On Tuesday May 20 the State Library of Queensland was set to announce the 2025 winners of the black&write! fellowship, which each year grants two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers $15,000 and a publishing opportunity with University of Queensland Press.
But hours before the ceremony was due to commence, the announcement was abruptly postponed.
One of the selected winners was K.A. Ren Wyld, a Martu author based in south of Adelaide, for her unpublished novel Whichway Shimmering Dust. Wyld had flown to Brisbane ahead of the Tuesday evening ceremony, but upon arriving at the library that morning, was taken upstairs for an impromptu meeting with State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald.
“I was pulled in for this very brief, polite conversation,” Wyld tells InReview.
“I wasn’t given much information; just basically that my fellowship was being rescinded, the award ceremony was going to be cancelled, and they’ll begin the process of informing the black&write! team, judges, guests and other shortlisted writers.”
In the meeting, McDonald read from a tweet Wyld had posted in October 2024, following Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Wyld tells InReview she was not fully aware who Sinwar was when she posted the tweet, which described Sinwar as a ‘martyr’ who was “resisting colonisation”. Wyld says she posted the comment in an “emotional moment”, seeking to show solidarity with Palestinians in her feed after seeing graphic, widely shared footage of his final moments released by the Israeli government.
“I saw a video of a man who looked similar to my age, who was under attack, and was fighting back, one-armed, in a chair. All I saw this outpouring of emotion around the world of people who obviously loved and respected him.”
Wyld thought she deleted the post shortly afterwards.
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By Tuesday afternoon, Queensland’s arts minister John-Paul Langbroek was citing the post in parliament while announcing the government had “taken the decision that this award should not be presented at the State Library”.
Langbroek told parliament that, “These comments are not only deeply offensive, but also risk dividing our multicultural community at a time when unity and respect are more important than ever.
“Whilst I support the principles of free expression and creative diversity, any perception that taxpayer funded awards being granted to individuals who justify terrorism undermines public trust both in our institutions and in the cultural sector more broadly,” he said.
Langbroek’s office told InReview it raised concerns with the State Library on Friday, May 16.
On Tuesday, McDonald published a statement saying: “media coverage and commentary today in relation to the personal views of the recommended recipient has overshadowed the intent of the awards”.
McDonald said the library would “undertake an independent review of the suite of awards and fellowships we administer”.
“It will have specific focus on how we balance our strong commitment to freedom of expression and our role as a State Government funded cultural institution.”
Wyld, who formerly published under the name Karen Wyld, has previously won a South Australian Literary Fellowship from the State Library of South Australia and Writer’s SA, a 2022 fellowship as part of the South Australian Literary Awards, and the 2020 Dorthy Hewitt Award for an unpublished manuscript for her novel Where the Fruit Falls.
She has also been a contributor to InReview, and serves as a mentor in the InReview First Nations Mentorship program.
Wyld has also revealed that a reporter from The Australian had seemingly been tipped off to the ministerial intervention – an email from the newspaper requesting comment arrived in her inbox shortly before the meeting with McDonald. The reporter disclosed that Queensland Arts Minister had “written to the State Library asking organisers to reconsider your appropriateness for the award”.
“They knew before I did, and they even knew before the black&write! team did,” Wyld says.
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The broadsheet had criticised Wyld’s pro-Palestinian views and social media posts before. In two February articles published in the wake of Khaled Sabsabi’s high-profile removal as Australia’s Venice Biennale representative, Wyld was named in a list of past Creative Australia funding recipients who have condemned Israel’s campaign in Palestine. The black&write! program receives funding from Creative Australia and the Copyright Agency.
In those reports, columnists from The Australian accused Wyld of being a “lunatic” and “terrorist sympathiser” while highlighting the October tweet.
Wyld rejects The Australian and minister’s characterisation of her posts.
“It’s pearl-clutching hyperbole, and for what purpose? To silence me, a nobody. I don’t have a big spread of influence, I don’t have power and privilege.”
Wyld was one of two fellowship recipients out of a shortlist of six, selected by a First Nations judging panel based on the literary merit of their submitted manuscripts. Past recipients of the career-making fellowship include Claire G Coleman, Ali Cobby-Eckermann, Alison Whittaker and Nardi Simpson.
Coleman called on the State Library to reinstate the judging panel’s choice, and said she was “disgusted by this decision and the chilling effect it will have on Indigenous writers across the country”.
The Australian Society of Authors said it was “disturbed” by the government’s decision, writing in a statement that: “It sets a dangerous precedent for creators – irrespective of their political views – that opportunities awarded on the basis of literary merit can be retracted if the creator is subject to complaints about their political ideas and expressions.”
It is the latest high-profile example of Australian cultural institutions stripping opportunities from artists who have shared pro-Palestinian views, from the State Library of Victoria’s cancellation of a series of writers workshops in March 2024, to Creative Australia’s dumping of Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino in February.
Wyld says her winning manuscript, Whichway Shimmering Dust, had been written to highlight the legacies and ongoing injustice of the Stolen Generations.
“That book was to honour the Stolen Generations and to bring back up the discussions on justice before everyone passes away,” she says.
“Next week is the 28th anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report, and only 6 per cent of the recommendations have been actioned.
“This is what they’ve silenced. They’ve not silenced just me, a writer. They’ve silenced the calls for justice, both here and currently in Palestine. We cannot forget that we’re watching a livestreamed genocide; what are we supposed to do with those images that we see, with the horror that we wake up and witness day after day after day?”
Responding to questions from InReview, the minister’s office pointed to Tuesday’s parliamentary speech and suggested contacting the State Library regarding “their decision to withdraw the award”.
The State Library of Queensland was contacted for comment. However, its official statement, updated on Thursday, states the “decision was made by the Queensland Government”.
“State Library of Queensland complied with that decision and postponed the black&write! ceremony and rescinded the fellowship to K.A. Ren Wyld,” it read.