New board invites cancelled author to return to next Writers’ Week
The new Adelaide Festival board has made a stunning about-turn, retracting its previous statement about Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah and inviting her to speak at the 2027 Writers’ Week. Abdel-Fattah responds as planning for a guerilla festival continues.
Adelaide Festival Corporation has apologised “unreservedly for the harm the Adelaide Festival Corporation has caused” Dr Abdel-Fattah and extended an invitation for her to speak at Writers’ Week 2027.
The new board also retracted its statement from January 8 saying it was excluding Abdel-Fattah “because it would be culturally insensitive to allow her to participate”.
A decision to establish a subcommittee to work with “relevant government agencies” and external experts to oversee a board-led review and guide short and long-term Writers’ Week decisions has also been rescinded.
The latest twist follows a week of controversy surrounding the Adelaide Festival after the board announced it would remove Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 Writers’ Week lineup.
It led to about 180 writers withdrawing from the event in support of Abdel-Fattah, and director Louise Adler resigned in the wake of the decision. All but one board member then resigned with four new board members appointed by the government on Tuesday.
In its latest statement, the board said “intellectual and artistic freedom is a powerful human right”.
“Our goal is to uphold it, and in this instance Adelaide Festival Corporation fell short.”
The new board also said it “would like to reassure the people of South Australia it is thoroughly committed to the successful delivery of Adelaide Festival 2026”.
New chair of the Adelaide Festival Judy Potter also offered an apology to the former Writers’ Week director Louise Adler.
“We also wish to apologise to Louise Adler AM that the incredible Adelaide Writers’ Week program she had worked so hard to curate for 2026 has been cancelled as a result of the events that have unfolded over the last week after the announcement of the decision to rescind the invitation to Dr Abdel-Fattah,” Potter said.
“We acknowledge the principled stand she took in the extremely difficult decision to resign from her role as director.
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“Louise is a revered figure of Australian literature who we hold in the highest regard. Her contributions to, and stewardship of, Adelaide Writers’ Week in the time she has been the director (2023-2025) have been outstanding.
“We wish to also convey the warm affection of the staff for Louise and their gratitude for her strong convictions.”
Abdel-Fattah posted a statement to social media saying she accepted the apology.
“I will consider the board’s invitation to participate in Adelaide Writers’ Week at the appropriate time but would be there in a heartbeat if Lousie Adler was the director again,” she said.
“While Adelaide Festival’s statement acknowledges the harm done, it is not a quick fix to repair the damage and injury inflicted.”
Potter advised that the former board’s decision to establish a subcommittee was rescinded, saying the board was committed to curatorial independence.
“We commit to the curatorial independence of the Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week while noting the board’s overarching responsibility for a well-delivered event of the highest quality,” Potter said today.
“We understand that many in the community are urging reconsideration of the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2026. While we fervently share that desire, our informed assessment of the situation is that it is simply no longer viable for it to proceed.
“We are determined that Adelaide Writers’ Week will rise again and our energies will be directed to that mission.”
Adelaide Festival chief executive Julian Hobba said he and artistic director Matt Lutton were “now fully focused on and committed to the successful presentation of Adelaide Festival 2026”.
“We are grateful for the patience of many festival artists who have been deeply concerned by the events of the last week,” Lutton said.
“We acknowledge and are grateful that the Premier Peter Malinauskas and Minister for Arts Andrea Michaels have taken swift action to appoint a new board enabling us to rapidly reset and continue our work in delivering Matt’s outstanding program.
“We also appreciate the Premier’s consistent position that the curatorial choices of Adelaide Festival, including Adelaide Writers’ Week, are at the discretion of the organisation.”
SA Greens leader Robert Simms called for greater transparency from the Premier and his conversations with the board in the lead-up to the announcement.
“I welcome the new festival boards decision to apologise to Dr Abdel-Fattah and Lousie Adler,” Simms said.
“Surely it’s now time for the Premier to do the same and finally accept responsibility for his role in this crisis.”
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The Premier has consistently denied political interference, saying he had “never intervened or directed the board, and nor should I, in fact, as a matter of law, I can’t”.
“I’ve been pretty clear about all this, and I’ve said everything I possibly can. I’ve been very transparent about my views of things, and the board has made independent decisions of themselves,” the Premier said on Wednesday. A spokesperson said the Premier had no further comment today.
Opposition leader Ashton Hurn today reiterated calls for an independent review into Writers’ Week “to find out exactly what on earth has gone on”.
“This on-again, off-again scenario is just not good for Adelaide’s reputation,” Hurn said.
Today, former Adelaide Festival board member Tony Berg released a statement to some media outlets claiming Adler, former Adelaide Festival Director Ruth Mazkenzie and CEO Kath Mainland gave the board an “ultimatum” in 2024 that they would resign if a Jewish writer Thomas Friedman was not disinvited.
“In 2024, Louise Adler led a demand to the board to retract an invitation to Tom Friedman to participate in the 2024 Adelaide Writers’ Week,” Berg said.
Adler did not respond to InDaily‘s request for comment. A letter from former board chair Tracey Whiting to Abdul-Fattah and other writers requesting Friedman’s removal said Friedman did not participate in Writers’ Week 2024 due to scheduling issues.
Berg is a former governor of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
Plans to salvage this year’s Writers’ Week
It comes as an indie-publishing house, and the state’s peak literary body Writers SA salvages what they can of the 2026 Writers’ Week.
Writers SA director Claire Hicks said the organisation is in contact with a wide network of booksellers, publishers and writers “who feel passionate about the loss of Writers’ Week”.
InDaily understands several planning meetings with writers and stakeholders have taken place since the Adelaide Festival board’s initial cancellation.
South Australian independent publisher Pink Shorts Press said there has been “a lot of interest” from writers and stakeholders to organise a guerilla festival or protest event after the initial writers’ boycott.
Adelaide City Councillor Keiran Snape – who is also running as an independent candidate in the state election – has called a special council meeting for Monday, January 19 where he will move for the council to fund WritersSA $250,000 to carry out an alternative event.
“The loss of Writers’ Week is a deep blow not just to the culture of our city but also our local economy,” Snape said.
“If this guerilla event can help stem some of that bleeding, then it’s incumbent on us to try.”
The Australia Institute – the first Writers’ Week sponsor to pull out after Abdel-Fattah’s cancellation –has also confirmed Greek author and economist Yanis Varoufakis would still visit Adelaide as part of his national book tour.
“A few days ago, we faced the prospect of not having the funds to cover Yanis Varoufakis’s speaking tour of Australia. We had originally planned to share the cost with AWW, but that was no longer possible,” Australia Institute executive director Richard Dennis said in a statement.
“I have spoken with Yanis. He is elated to still be coming to Australia – all thanks to the generosity of our supporters.
“Adelaide Writers’ Week will not go ahead. But together, we are fighting to keep democratic debate in this country alive and healthy by giving a platform to Yanis, a speaker dedicated to free speech, anti-fascism and brave ideas.”
