Adelaide Writers’ Week has been cancelled for 2026.
The Adelaide Festival Board has confirmed the event can no longer go ahead following a wave of author withdrawals, after it removed Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from its literary program.
In a statement posted to the board’s Instagram, organisers said the scale of cancellations had made it impossible to deliver the program as scheduled.
“Many authors have since announced they will no longer appear at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026, and it is the Adelaide Festival’s position that the event can no longer go ahead as scheduled for this year,” the board said.
Organisers added that they “recognised and deeply regretted the distress” caused to audiences, writers, artists, donors, corporate partners, government stakeholders and staff, and apologised to Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was communicated.
The statement continues that the decision was not “about identity or dissent”, but reflected what it described as a rapidly shifting national conversation around freedom of expression following what it characterised as Australia’s worst terror attack.
The board said its focus has now shifted to ensuring the Adelaide Festival proceeds successfully, while safeguarding South Australia’s cultural legacy and supporting staff who deliver the broader event.
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The announcement comes alongside the resignation of the full board, with all remaining members stepping down today. The only exception is the representative from Adelaide City Council, whose term expires on February 2.
The move comes just hours after the resignation of the event’s director, Louise Adler.
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Adler said she could not continue in the role after the decision, describing the move as incompatible with the event’s core purpose.
“I cannot be party to silencing writers, so with a heavy heart, I am resigning from my role as the director of the AWW,” Adler said.
Adler said the decision struck at the heart of what Adelaide Writers’ Week represents – a forum for ideas, debate and challenge, even when those ideas are uncomfortable.
“Writers and writing matters, even when they are presenting ideas that discomfort and challenge us,” she said.
“We need writers now more than ever, as our media closes up, as our politicians grow daily more cowed by real power, as Australia grows more unjust and unequal.”
The Adelaide Festival board confirmed earlier it had dropped Abdel-Fattah from the program, triggering swift backlash across the literary community and placing the festival’s governance under scrutiny.
Since the board confirmed Dr Abdel-Fattah’s removal from the 2026 program, the fallout has escalated rapidly, with around 180 writers, commentators and academics withdrawing from the event.
Those to pull out include former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, bestselling author Zadie Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Percival Everett, and one of Australia’s most decorated literary figures, Helen Garner.
Dr Abdel-Fattah has long been a vocal critic of Israel. On Boxing Day 2024, a post on her X account read: “May 2025 be the end of Israel”.
She has also faced scrutiny over her activism, including organising a children’s excursion to a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Sydney, where footage showed people chanting “intifada” – a term NSW Premier Chris Minns has said he plans to ban under proposed new hate speech laws.
The Adelaide Festival board did not cite specific incidents, referring instead to “past statements” and the broader context following the Bondi attack.
Adler’s departure marks the most significant consequence yet, leaving Adelaide Writers’ Week without its director just weeks out from final program preparations.
The Adelaide Festival has not yet announced who will assume oversight of the literary event following Adler’s resignation.
