"Organizers canceled the 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week festival on Tuesday, after some 180 international and Australian authors withdrew from the event in protest of the scrapping of an appearance by an Australian-Palestinian author and academic. The event's director Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said she was quitting her role on Tuesday, shortly before the festival was called off altogether."
"Organizers apologized to novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah on Tuesday, saying it regretted how its decision was represented, but the author responded saying she rejected the "disingenuous" apology. What led to the boycott and eventually the festival's halt? Organizers had announced on January 8 that they would disinvite Abdel-Fattah, because "it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time, so soon after Bondi.""
"Abdel-Fattah called her exclusion "a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship." The event made no connection to Abdel-Fattah and the attack at Bondi Beach, which police believe was perpetrated by a man inspired by the Islamic State militant group, except to say she was being excluded "given her previous statements." Born in Australia to Palestinian and Egyptian parents, Abdel-Fattah often writes about Islamophobia and had been invited to speak about her novel Discipline."
The 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week festival was canceled after about 180 international and Australian authors withdrew in protest of the disinvitation of Australian-Palestinian novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah. Louise Adler, the festival director, resigned shortly before the event was called off. Organizers apologized to Abdel-Fattah but she rejected the apology as disingenuous. Abdel-Fattah was disinvited on January 8 with organizers citing cultural sensitivity "so soon after Bondi," a reference to the December shooting that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration. Abdel-Fattah, born to Palestinian and Egyptian parents, writes about Islamophobia and had been invited to discuss her novel Discipline.
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