Extract from ABC News
Randa Abdel-Fattah told ABC Radio National on Friday that she would like an apology and for her invitation to be reinstated. (Bendigo Writers Festival)
In short:
A Palestinian Australian author has been axed from Adelaide Writers' Week after its board said her appearance would "not be culturally sensitive" in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack.
Several authors, including Jane Caro, Hannah Kent and Peter Fitzsimons, have withdrawn from the festival citing concerns about freedom of speech.
What's next?
Adelaide Writers' Week is scheduled to take place from February 28 to March 5.
Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah has asked for an apology and "accountability" after she was axed from Adelaide Writers' Week, as dozens of authors cancel their appearances at the event.
But SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has backed the board's decision, on Friday morning telling ABC Radio Adelaide that Abdel-Fattah has "advocated in writing explicitly against the cultural safety of those who believe in Zionism".
On Thursday, the Adelaide Festival Board released a statement in which it said it was not suggesting Abdel-Fattah or her writing has any connection to the Bondi attack, but based on her past statements, it would "not be culturally sensitive" to go ahead with her appearance at the festival, scheduled to begin on February 28.
The author, lawyer and activist was due to talk about her new novel Discipline.
Since the announcement, dozens of authors have cancelled their appearances in support of Abdel-Fattah.
The line-up page on the official Writers' Week website was updated on Friday afternoon to say:
"In respect of the wishes of the writers who have recently indicated their withdrawal from the Writers' Week 2026 program we have temporarily unpublished the list of participants and events while we work through changes to the website".
Abdel-Fattah told ABC Radio National the decision to axe her was "obscene".
"It really just shows the egregious … racism that has now become normalised by institutions," she said.
Abdel-Fattah said she "cannot believe" that she has to publicly announce she had no involvement in the Bondi terrorist attack.
"It's just an extremely racist and obscene attempt to associate me with an atrocity,"she said.
"I cannot believe that in 2026, that I, a Palestinian, who has witnessed my people's live-streamed genocide for two years, am now having to say publicly that I have nothing to do with the Bondi atrocities.
"At what point will Palestinians be allowed to be present in the public space without being constructed as threats and enemies?"
In a previous statement, she said that the cancellation "has stripped me of my humanity and agency, reducing me to an object onto which others can project their racist fears and smears".
Premier 'wholeheartedly' supports decision
Abdel-Fattah has been a vocal critic of Israel.
In a 2024 post on the social media platform X, she stated: "The goal is decolonisation and the end of this murderous Zionist colony", claiming in an accompanying video that its existence depended on violence against Palestinians.
Premier Peter Malinauskas has publicly addressed his support of the Adelaide Festival Board's decision. (ABC News: Carl Saville)
Premier Peter Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide on Friday morning that he "wholeheartedly" supported the board's decision.
Mr Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide that he "thought about this a lot" before informing the board of his position.
He said Abdel-Fattah "advocated in writing explicitly against the cultural safety of those who believe in Zionism".
"I think in the context of the single worst race-based terrorist attack that we've seen in the history of our federation, that matters."
Mr Malinauskas agreed that Writers' Week is "all about the contest of idea" and that "controversial opinions" should be welcomed.
But he questioned Abdel-Fattah's appearance in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack.
Jewish Community Council of South Australia public and government liaison Norman Schueler said the council sent a letter to the Adelaide Festival board "a few days ago" requesting the removal of Dr Abdel-Fattah from the Writers' Week line-up.
"The board [has] completely, appropriately disinvited her and personally, I'm very, very surprised it appears a large cohort of people have decided to support her," Mr Schueler said.
Abdel-Fattah said she learned of her axing via email and that previously she had not heard "anything" from the festival about comments she had made.
"I would like an apology, I would like a redemption in terms of the retraction of that statement, the reinstatement of my invitation and steps by the board to actually hold itself accountable to community for what it has done here," she said.
Several authors withdraw support
Abdel-Fattah told ABC Radio National it had been "absolutely heartening" to see the plethora of authors withdrawing from the festival in solidarity.
On Friday morning, writer and feminist commentator Jane Caro told ABC Radio Adelaide she would be joining the list of writers to withdraw.
"It was a difficult decision, but my thinking is this, you know, there is … a rising authoritarian impulse … and a lot of that is silencing voices that are seen by one pressure group or another as objectionable,"she said.
"I didn't want to undermine the festival, that's not my point, my point is trying to live up to my values and my belief about the right of people to express opinions and particularly the importance of writers' festivals being a place of debate and a place of expression, the robust but courteous expression of difference of opinion."
The decision by the Adelaide Festival board to silence Randa undermines the purpose of writing and of writers festivals.
Jane Caro is one of the several authors to withdraw from the festival. (Supplied: David Hahn)
South Australian author Hannah Kent has also withdrawn from the festival, posting a statement to Instagram in which she said she was "appalled" by the decision.
"It is a gross act of discrimination and censorship I can in no way agree with, and I will … therefore be withdrawing from this year's Adelaide Writers' Week unless Dr Abdel-Fattah's place in the program is reinstated," she wrote.
Other authors to withdraw so far include; Peter Fitzsimons, Evelyn Araluen, Amy McQuire, Peter Greste and Bernadette Brennan.
South Australia's peak organisation for writing and literature, Writers SA, has pulled out of the event.
"The decision by the Adelaide Festival board to silence Randa undermines the purpose of writing and of writers' festivals," it said in a statement on social media.
The ABC has contacted the Adelaide Festival for comment.
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