A dramatic week that saw the former Adelaide Festival Board rescind the invitation of Palestinian-Australian academic and author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to Writers’ Week 2026, has ended – following mass boycotts, resignations of Board members and Writers’ Week Director Louise Adler, and ultimately the cancellation of this year’s Writers’ Week entirely – with the Festival’s new Board apologising ‘unreservedly’ for their predecessors’ actions.
Late Tuesday 13 January, South Australian Minister for the Arts Andrea Michaels MP appointed a new Board after the majority of the former Board resigned following the backlash that resulted from Abdel-Fattah’s cancellation.
