‘Happy but nervous’: Writers weigh in on new festival director
Authors on the front lines of the Adelaide Writers’ Week boycott earlier this year say the Adelaide Festival Board and government “can’t underestimate the damage that has been done”.
Adelaide writers are “encouraged” by the news Rosemarie Milsom is taking the high-profile job of Adelaide Writers’ Week director, but say more is needed to protect freedom of expression in SA arts organisations.
Their views shared as the state’s new arts minister Kyam Maher meets with Milsom about her new role today while she is in Adelaide.
Milsom will not move to Adelaide for the job saying she would stay Newcastle-based while her teenage daughter finishes high school but spend “as much time as possible” in Adelaide.
Pink Shorts Press publishing house founders Emily Hart and Margot Lloyd said they thought Milsom was a great pick but were disappointed the board did not choose an Adelaide identity or someone who would relocate for the job.
Jennifer Mills, a local author and one of the organisers of this year’s alternative writers event, said she was “happy” but “a bit nervous about the future.”
“I would really like some reassurance that Writers’ Week will be protected from political interference in future,” she said.
“Authors are already very precarious. We’re experiencing a lot of damage to our sector at the moment, and it’s very harmful to the culture as a whole, but also to working writers, this is our livelihood.
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“A lot of people have a stake in Writers Week. It’s a very important part of the city’s cultural life”
Mills said though the Writers’ Week fallout was not felt at the ballot box last month, “that’s not to say that it hasn’t had a big political impact on the trust that people have in this government”.
“There were very few arts announcements in the recent election. I felt we weren’t much of a priority, and the insult to books and writers and to readers in the state was very widely felt and I think you can’t underestimate the damage that has been done from that,” she said.
New director Milsom said curatorial independence was a top priority and that if the board had not changed after the deprogramming of Randa Abdel-Fattah, she would not have applied.
“It would have felt like a poison chalice,” Milsom told InDaily.
“Obviously you want to have confidence in the governance of the organisation.”
Milsom – who also programmed Abdel-Fattah at Newcastle Writers’ Week earlier this month – was appointed by the new Adelaide Festival Board, after the former board members resigned after the high-profile literary festival was cancelled.
Jo Dyer – a former Adelaide Writers’ Week director who also did not relocate for the job – said Milsom was “exactly the sort of person that I think Adelaide needs”.
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“She’s fantastically experienced. She has that deep knowledge of what it takes to run a literary festival, how she understands how a festival is embedded within the community,” Dyer said.
The Adelaide Festival Corporation Act specifies that “no ministerial direction can be given to the artistic nature or content” of objects, works or collections, performances, events or activities.
Board minutes showed the former Adelaide Festival board removed Abdel-Fattah from its lineup after concerns over government intervention.
Another piece of legislation, the Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Bill, was introduced to state parliament in November 2025, but has not yet passed. It was meant to enshrine in legislation the role of the arts and to protect artists’ freedom of expression.
The bill specifies “all artists, makers and creatives in South Australia have the right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity”.
When asked if newly appointed Arts Minister Kyam Maher would pursue the legislation when parliament returns, a spokesperson said the government “remains strongly committed to our A Place to Create arts and culture policy as well as legislating our commitment to ongoing arts and culture policy”.
The government repeatedly said it told the Adelaide Festival the lineup was a matter for the board and would not impact government funding.
InDaily understands Arts Minister Kyam Maher – who was appointed to the portfolio last month – is meeting with Milsom today.
“Adelaide Writers’ Week is the nation’s largest free literary festival and a celebration of books, authors and writing,” Arts Minister Kyam Maher said today in relation to the new appointment.
“Writers’ Week is also an important part of the Adelaide Festival, one of the world’s top arts festivals.
He said Milsom “brings a wealth of experience, having founded the Newcastle Writers’ Festival and built extensive connections across the literary sector”.
“We look forward to continuing to support the af board and staff to deliver another successful program in 2027.”
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