One of Australia’s largest arts festivals has cancelled its writers’ week following a boycott by more than 180 authors and speakers after the disinvitation of Palestinian-Australian author and scholar Randa Abdel-Fattah, reports ABC News.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Adelaide Festival board said the decision had “created more division” and offered a “sincere apology,” noting that its remaining three board members would also step down. Four board members, including the chairperson, resigned over the weekend. The board added it “apologise(d) to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was represented,” framing the cancellation as related to the “rapid shift in the national discourse around freedom of expression” following Australia’s deadliest terror attack in history.
The controversy erupted after Abdel-Fattah was disinvited last week over concerns about “cultural sensitivity” following an antisemitic attack at a Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration in December, in which 15 people were killed. The move was widely criticised as “racist censorship,” prompting high-profile withdrawals from the festival, including former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, authors Percival Everett and Zadie Smith, and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Calls for a broader boycott of the festival quickly spread online.
Abdel-Fattah, a fellow at Macquarie University and former litigation lawyer, condemned the decision as “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism,” rejecting any connection between her and the Bondi attack.
In response to the board’s apology on Tuesday, Abdel-Fattah called it “disingenuous.” She wrote on X that the apology addressed only “how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself.” She added: “Once again, the Board citing the ‘national discourse’ for an action that specifically targets me, a Palestinian Australian Muslim woman, is explicitly articulating that I cannot be part of the national discourse, which is insulting and racist in the extreme.”
She further criticised the board’s linking of her disinvitation to the Bondi shooting, stating, “The Bondi attack does not mean I or anyone else has to stop advocating for an end to the illegal occupation and systematic extermination of my people – that is an obscene and absurd demand.”
Abdel-Fattah is known for her academic publications, award-winning novels, a children’s picture book, and frequent media contributions on topics including Islamophobia, Palestine, youth identity, and social movement activism. In 2025, she was among 50 authors who boycotted the Bendigo Writers’ Festival in Victoria after last-minute changes to its code of conduct introduced a controversial definition of antisemitism.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
