Controversial Writers’ Week author shortlisted for top SA literary prize
The author at the centre of the 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week chaos is in the running for the Premier’s Award in a prestigious competition that is backed by the SA government.
Palestinian author and academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, who was at the centre of controversy around the cancelled 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week, has been shortlisted for the Fiction Award in the 2026 South Australian Literary Awards.
The awards are backed by the South Australian Government, and the Fiction prize is a $15,000 award for a published novel or collection of short stories.
As she is shortlisted, Abdel-Fattah is also in the running for the prestigious overall prize: the Premier’s Award.
Abdel-Fattah was shortlisted for her novel Discipline – a fictional story about a Palestinian journalist in Australia struggling with what she believed was one-sided reporting on the local impacts of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In February, Abdel-Fattah won the prestigious Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards People’s Choice award for Discipline.
Other SA Literary Awards shortlisted authors include Rhett Davis (Arborescence), Michelle de Krester (Theory & Practice), Charlotte McConaghy (Wild Dark Shore) and Holden Sheppard (King of Dirt).
Previous winners include Frank Moorehouse in 2014, David Malouf in 2010, Richard Flanagan in 1996 and Helen Garner in 1986.
Abdel-Fattah was at the centre of controversy earlier this year after she was removed from the 2026 Writers’ Week programme and it led to the ultimate collapse of the nation’s largest literary festival.
InDaily today asked Premier Peter Malinauskas whether he believed the shortlisting of Abdel-Fattah was appropriate but was told by a spokesperson that he had no comment.
The Adelaide Writers’ Week controversy sparked national discussion about freedom of speech, and her removal from the programme ultimately led to an estimated 180 authors withdrawing from appearing in Adelaide.
Abdel-Fattah was disinvited after the Adelaide Festival board decided to remove her from the programme – a decision backed by SA Premier Peter Malinauskas, who sent a letter to the board in January making his views clear that he did not support the programming of the writer.
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In Adelaide Festival meeting minutes from January 5, 2026, the board “agreed that government involvement materially changes the risk profile and that failure to act could jeopardise current and future funding, and the festival’s broader viability”.
The board subsequently resigned after the festival’s cancellation.
Abdel-Fattah eventually appeared in Adelaide at a quickly arranged replacement festival called Constellations: Not Writers’ Week, where she spoke alongside former Writers’ Week director Louise Adler at Adelaide Town Hall.
The full list of shortlisted authors for the 2026 SA Literary Awards:
Fiction Award Shortlist:
– Randa Abdel-Fattah, Discipline
– Rhett Davis, Arborescence
– Michelle de Krester, Theory & Practice
– Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore
– Holden Sheppard, King of Dirt
Non-Fiction Award Shortlist:
– Adele Dumont, The Pulling
– Madison Griffiths, Sweet Nothings
– Natalie Harkin, Apron-Sorrow/Sovereign-Tea
– John Safran, Squat
– Micaela Sahhar, Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family
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Young Adult Fiction Award Shortlist:
– Olivia De Zilva, Eggshell
– Sharon Kernot, Birdy
– Margot McGovern, This Stays Between Us
– Pip Smith, The Pull of the Moon
Children’s Literature Award Shortlist:
– Sandy Bigna, Little Bones
– Peter Carnavas, Leo and Ralph
– Deborah Frenkel, The Truck Cat
– Julia Busuttil Nishimura, Sundays Under The Lemon Tree
– Judith Rossell, The Midwatch
John Bray Poetry Award Shortlist:
– Evelyn Araluen, The Rot
– Eileen Chong, We Speak of Flowers
– Maxine Beneba Clark, Beautiful Changelings
– Paul Dawson, Lines of Desire
– Alan Fyfe, G-d, Sleep, and Chaos
*Editor’s note: The former chair of the Adelaide Festival Tracey Whiting AM is also a director of Solstice Media, publisher of InDaily.
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