Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has been dropped from the Adelaide Writers’ Week line-up by the Adelaide Festival Board, citing the festival’s role in “promoting community cohesion”.
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has been dropped from the Adelaide Writers’ Week line-up by the Adelaide Festival Board, citing the festival’s role in “promoting community cohesion”.
No, Adler wasn’t involved in this decision:
(emphasis added)
Adler has so far been solid - as the article goes on to detail:
I wouldn’t be surprised if Adler resigned over this, actually, but we’ll see.
Fair, I misread that. I’ll retract that comment. Will be keen to see of she does resign though.
Adler has resigned: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/13/i-cannot-be-party-to-silencing-writers-which-is-why-i-am-resigning-as-director-of-adelaide-writers-week-ntwnfb
Good for her, much respect. hopefully the rest of the writers festival implodes as well.
Done: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/jan/13/adelaide-writers-week-cancelled-as-board-apologises-to-randa-abdel-fattah-for-how-decision-was-represented-ntwnfb
It’s a sad outcome for the writers, but better than it going ahead in that format.
Thanks for the personal updates, much appreciated!