Earlier this month, the ASA shared its concern over the Adelaide Festival Board’s decision to cancel author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s scheduled appearance at Adelaide Writers’ Week. In a statement shared on their website, the Adelaide Festival Board noted this decision had been made on the basis of Abdel-Fattah’s past statements.

In the days following this decision, approximately 180 authors, sponsors, and organisations withdrew from the event in protest, including ASA Chair, Jennifer Mills. As one such author, journalist Peter Greste wrote for The Guardian: ‘I do not need to agree with Abdel-Fattah’s views to believe that removing her in this way is wrong. The issue is not about ideological alignment; it is about principle and precedent. If writers can be disqualified from public forums based on past statements and changing political winds, then participation becomes contingent on institutional nervousness rather than intellectual integrity.’

Writers’ Week Director Louise Adler resigned, Adelaide Festival Board members stepped down, and the 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week was cancelled. 

A new Adelaide Festival Board has now been appointed, and has already issued an apology to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah – which she has accepted – with an invitation to take part in the 2027 Writers’ Week, as well as an apology to Louise Adler.

The local community is making plans to host a guerrilla Adelaide Writers’ Week, with organisational support from Writers SA and venues offered by the City of Adelaide. Writing community members are also encouraging support for the writers who had been scheduled to attend Adelaide Writers’ Week, with Readings offering a 10% discount on their books.  

We know that the decision to withdraw from Adelaide Writers’ Week cannot have been easy for many creators to make, and that the event’s cancellation is acutely felt by both authors and the local community alike. We share authors’ deep concerns about the disturbing trend of cancellations and censorship of Australian creators and have written to the incoming Board, the South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas MP, and the Minister for Arts, Andrea Michaels MP, to call for a majority representation of creators on the Board, a clear commitment to protect Adelaide Writers’ Week from political interference, to respect cultural workers’ rights, and to uphold freedom of expression in South Australia.

The ASA supports freedom of expression as a fundamental right and believes authors should be free to express their ideas and opinions, within the reasonable limits set by the law.

We will continue to advocate to government and Australian writers’ festivals to emphasise the impact upon authors and to ensure situations like this do not happen again.

If you are an ASA member and have been affected by cancelled events for Adelaide Writers’ Week, please contact us at [email protected].