Australian writers’ festival apologises to Palestinian author after boycott

Randa Abdel-Fattah said she accepts board’s apology as acknowledgement of her right to speak about atrocities against Palestinians.Published On 15 Jan 2026An Australian arts festival has apologised to Randa Abdel-Fattah after it was forced to cancel its entire writers’ week programme when 180 writers withdrew from the event in solidarity with the Palestinian Australian author.The board of Adelaide Festival said on Thursday it was retracting its earlier decision to exclude Abdel-Fattah “from participating as a speaker at Adelaide Writers’ Week this year”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Australian writers’ festival cancelled after Palestinian author axedlist 2 of 4When Palestinian existence is portrayed as hatelist 3 of 4Australia festival faces mass boycott after dropping Palestinian authorlist 4 of 4Australia to launch anti-Semitism inquiry after Bondi shootingend of list“We have reversed the decision and will reinstate Dr Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to speak at the next Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2027,” the board said in a statement, apologising “unreservedly for the harm” it had caused to her.“Intellectual and artistic freedom is a powerful human right,” the board said, acknowledging that it had fallen “well short” of upholding that right.Abdel-Fattah, an award-winning author of 11 novels, said in her own statement that she accepted the board’s apology and would consider the invitation to participate next year.“I accept this apology as acknowledgement of our right to speak publicly and truthfully about the atrocities that have been committed against the Palestinian people” and “a vindication of our collective solidarity and mobilisation against anti-Palestinian racism, bullying and censorship”, she said in a statement shared on social media.Abdel-Fattah, who is also a lawyer and sociologist, said she would agree to appear as a speaker “in a heartbeat” if Louise Adler, who resigned as the director of Adelaide Writers’ Week in protest at the board’s decision, “was the director again”, but said she had not yet decided if she would accept the invitation to appear next year.