Adelaide Writers' Week on the verge of collapse as 100 speakers pull out

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 10/1/2026

ADELAIDE Writers' Week might not be able to run this year, following the organiser, the Adelaide Festival, announcing that it would drop Palestinian-Australian Randa Abdel-Fattah's event for her previous statements condemning the Zionist regime's ongoing genocide.

Of the 124 remaining writers set to speak during the week, almost 100 have pulled out in solidarity with Ms Abdel-Fattah, raising questions about the viability of Adelaide Writers' Week in 2026.

The removal of Ms Abdel-Fattah was endorsed by Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas who shamefully stated that Abdel-Fattah 'advocated [...] against the cultural safety of those who believe in Zionism', stated as if Zionism was a religion or a protected characteristic, as opposed to a genocidal political ideology with no ethnic or religious ties. This statement is extremely worrying, as it seeks to conflate the unrelated ideas of Zionism with Judaism, which could be utilised by the antisemitic far right to use 'Israel's' reprehensible acts to attack Jews.

Malinauskas's statement is, additionally, absurd, as there is no such thing as the 'cultural safety' of a political movement. Does this publication attack the cultural safety of capitalists? This serves additionally to turn the unrelated ideas of Zionism and Judaism into one and the same in the minds of the public.

Among the names of those courageously withdrawing from the Week are several extremely successful authors, who were previously significant drawcards for Adelaide Writers' Week. These include Trent Dalton, author of books such as Boy Swallows Universe and Lola in the Mirror, and Zadie Smith, author of books such as White Teeth and NW.

Abdel-Fattah herself has stated that her removal is 'extremely racist' and amounts to an 'attempt to associate [her] with an atrocity.'

As more writers pull out of the event, it is increasingly unclear how the Week will run with the now greatly depleted group of writers and sponsors, just over a month and a half before the event is set to begin.