Australian writers festival in turmoil over decision to bar Palestinian author

Australia’s Adelaide Writers Week faces turmoil as director Louise Adler resigns, condemning the disinvitation of Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah and warning that government restrictions on protests and speech threaten free expression. Dozens of international and local authors have also boycotted the festival in protest.

Kirsty Needham/Reuters

14 January 2026 at 02:55:32

A screenshot of the video provided by the Australian Broadcasting Company via Reuters showing South Australian Arts Minister Andrea Michaels speaking during a press conference on January 14, 2026.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Reuters

The director of one of Australia's top writers festivals resigned on Tuesday saying she could not be party to silencing a Palestinian author and warning government moves to ban protests and slogans in the aftermath of the Bondi mass shooting threatened free speech.

Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said on Tuesday she was quitting her role at Adelaide Writers Week, after 180 international and Australian authors also boycotted the event following a decision by the festival's board to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a national day of mourning would be held on January 22 to remember the 15 people killed in last month's shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.

Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and the incident sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism, and state and federal government moves to tighten hate speech laws.

The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite novelist and university academic Randa Abdel-Fattah from next month's writers week because "it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to programme her at this unprecedented time, so soon after Bondi".

Abdel-Fattah said the move was "a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship".

Adler wrote in the Guardian that the board's decision "weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, where lobbying and political pressure determine who gets to speak and who doesn't".

Adler said she was disappointed the premier of South Australia state, Peter Malinauskas, had backed the board's decision.

"With alarming insouciance protests are being outlawed, free speech is being constrained and politicians are rushing through processes to ban phrases and slogans," she added.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian author Kathy Lette, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Percival Everett and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis are among the authors who said they would no longer appear at the festival in South Australia state next month, Australian media reported.

Three festival board members and the chairperson have since resigned.

-Kirsty Needham/Reuters