Cat Hoffman

The new Adelaide Festival board has:
- retracted the previous board’s statement about Randa Abdel-Fattah
- rescinded her exclusion and invited her to the 2027 festival
- apologised to Louise Adler
- rescinded the decision to have a subcommittee review AWW operations

The Adelaide Festival Corporation published a statement [...] We retract that statement. We have reversed the decision and will reinstate Dr Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to speak at the next Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2027. We apologise to Dr Abdel-Fattah unreservedly for the harm the Adelaide Festival Corporation has caused her. Intellectual and artistic freedom is a powerful human right. Our goal is to uphold it, and in this instance Adelaide Festival Corporation fell well short. [...] The new Adelaide Festival Board would like to reassure the people of South Australia it is thoroughly committed to the successful delivery of Adelaide Festival 2026. We wish to apologise to Louise Adler AM that the incredible program she had worked hard to curate for 2026 has been cancelled as a result of the events that have unfolded over the last week after the announcement of the decision to rescind the invitation to Dr Abdel-Fattah. We acknowledge the principled stand she took in the extremely difficult decision to resign from her role as Director. Louise is a revered figure of Australian literature who we hold in the highest regard. Her contributions to, and stewardship of, Adelaide Writers’ Week in the time she has been the Director (2023 – 2025) have been outstanding. We wish also to convey the warm affection of the staff for Louise and their gratitude for her strong convictions. The Board has decided that the former decision to establish a subcommittee of the Board to review Adelaide Writers’ Week operational decisions is rescinded. We commit to the curatorial independence of the Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week while noting the Board’s overarching responsibility for a well-delivered event of the highest quality. We understand that many in the community are urging reconsideration of the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2026. While we fervently share that desire, our informed assessment of the situation is that it is simply no longer viable for it to proceed.

We are determined that Adelaide Writers’ Week will rise again and our energies will be directed to that mission. We are thankful for the many messages of support from within the Adelaide Festival community to assist in the coming weeks and months. We acknowledge and are grateful that the Premier Peter Malinauskas and Minister for Arts Andrea Michaels have taken swift action to appoint a new Board enabling us to rapidly re-set and continue our work in delivering Matt’s outstanding program. We also appreciate the Premier’s consistent position that the curatorial choices of Adelaide Festival, including Adelaide Writers’ Week, are at the discretion of the organisation. We thank you for your patience through this period and will be further in touch with more information as we are able. Yours sincerely, Julian Hobba Executive Director

Full Adelaide Festival statement:

I don’t know how Malinauskas is managing to make this even worse. This is a horrendous comment - the false equivalence here is horrific

This, to be clear, is not an apology. Not sure what it is.

Gotta say, the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week gives me some hope for Australia's ability to navigate this.

A great loss for the literary community, but writers/thinkers/audiences aren't going to stand for the bullying and pressure.

Unclear when the politicians are going to figure it out.

Wow.
SA Premier Malinauskas, triples down on interfering with the Adelaide Writers Festival which then self imploded and was cancelled.
Can you imagine linking an award-winning author who opposed genocide to two hateful, murderous men?
Racism game is strong. 👇🏼

I gotta say, I'm not jazzed by the apology for "how the decision was represented" and "the distress this decision has caused" rather than apologising for the decision itself

www.adelaidefestival.com.au/news/2025/ad...

Word limits above so it is important to add they apologised for “how the decision was represented” to Dr Abdel-Fattah. Not for the decision itself.

Three board names now removed from the website: www.adelaidefestival.com.au/about/our-team

Adelaide's last standing metropolitan newspaper weighs into the Adelaide Writers Week decision by backing in the Premier, suggesting he played a more active role in the decision than let on and describing reaction online as a "tantrum".

Former leaders of AF: "One can only assume [the] Board [...] has a lack of confidence in its own expertise. Perhaps this might be more simply remedied by the Government appointing even a few people with arts expertise to the Board of this great arts institution? We note there are currently none."

We are deeply saddened by the decision by the board of Adelaide Festival to cancel the invitation to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to speak at Adelaide Writers Week 2026. It is a grave mistake which brings the Festival and Writers Week into disrepute and which may have far-reaching consequences for both the Festival and Writers Week well into the future. There is one remedy for the justified public outcry at this egregious incursion on free speech and the damaging series of withdrawals it has caused. We call upon the Board to reinstate Dr Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to the 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week immediately. An about-face may be embarrassing but it is both the right thing to do and will cauterise the growing damage to this much loved and internationally significant South Australian cultural institution.

Neil Armfield AO Artistic Director 2017 - 2022 Festivals; Participating Artist 1982, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2004, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 Rob Brookman AM Administrator 1983 – 1988; Associate Director 1990 Festival; Artistic Director 1992 Festival; Executive Director 2017 – 2020; Associate Director 2023 Festival; Opera & Music Advisor 2024 Festival Jo Dyer Director Adelaide Writers Week 2019 – 2022 Festivals Peter Goldsworthy AM Chair Adelaide Writers Week 2012 - 2016; Serial Participating Writer Nicholas Heyward AM Chief Executive Officer 1997 - 2001 Kath M Mainland CBE Chief Executive 2022 – 2025 Ian Scobie AM Administrator 1990 – 1994; General Manager 1994 – 1996 David Sefton Artistic Director 2013 – 2016 Festivals Jim Sharman AO Artistic Director 1982 Festival; Participating AF Artist 1972, 1980, 1986, 1992, 2006; Board Member 1997-2002 Anthony Steel AM Artistic Director 1974, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1986 Festivals; Board Member 1999 - 2002 Mary Vallentine AO Administrator 1978 – 1982; Opera & Music Advisor 2018 - 2021 Festivals

Former leaders of the Adelaide Festival have written to the board. They call it a grave mistake which brings the Festival and Writers Week into disrepute and which may have far-reaching consequences for
both the Festival and Writers Week well into the future."

would really love if some people commenting on aww would ask local journos and arts workers for details because i am honestly seeing so much disinformation. womad does not sit under the af board. the full program for aww was not released. amanda vanstone is not on the board. etc.

I get that people love to hang shit on arts administrators but we need to be clear that this is a governance issue. The AWW staff were the ones who put the program together - and the board overrode them. Will other writers fest boards take a similarly interventionist role re programming this year?

Statement from the Australia Institute announcing its withdrawal of support and sponsored events from the Adelaide Writers’ Festival

Statement from Amy Remeikis withdrawing from Adelaide Writers’ Festival

I stand with Randa and everyone standing against hate, genocide, oppression and terror. In all its forms.

She's actually not on the Board anymore. Current list: www.adelaidefestival.com.au/about/our-team

But I'm sure lots of those who hadn't been announced have also pulled out by now!

They hadn't published the full line-up for this year yet. They usually announce a bunch when the Adelaide Festival program launches (around Oct the year before) and then the rest are announced when the Writers' Week program launches (usually towards the end of January).

No worries!

This is actually the board of another organisation with a very similar name (the word Centre is the only difference, so it is confusing!). You can find the Adelaide Festival Board info here: web.archive.org/web/20260101...