Dozens of writers boycott Adelaide festival after it dumps pro-Palestine academic Randa Abdel-Fattah | Adelaide festival

Dozens of writers, journalists, media personalities and a sponsor are boycotting the Adelaide festival after it removed Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from its annual writers’ week program, citing concerns about “cultural sensitivity” in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

More speakers were expected to withdraw from the festival, with speculation that other high-profile names were coordinating exit announcements.

Authors Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser, writers and commentators Jane Caro and Cheek Media co-founder Peter FitzSimons, Hannah Ferguson, journalist and academic Peter Greste, ABC radio presenter Jonathan Green, First Nations scholar and author Prof Chelsea Watego and reporter Amy Remeikis were among those confirmed to boycott the annual writers festival on Friday morning.

Australian writers Bri Lee and Madeleine Gray said they would not attend unless the festival reversed its decision and reinstated Abdel-Fattah.

Macquarie University academic Abdel-Fattah was due to appear at the festival for the second time next month, after hosting a series of panels and sessions in 2023.

But in a statement released on Thursday, the festival board said it formed the view that “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue programming Bondi at such an unprecedented time so soon after it.”

While the panel did not “in any way” indicate that Abdel-Fattah or his writings had any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, it said the decision was made “taking into account his past statements”.

Abdel Fattah had previously faced sustained criticism from the Coalition and some Jewish organizations and media outlets for his controversial comments about Israel, including his claim that Zionists “have no claim or right to cultural security”.

Former NSW premier and federal foreign minister Bob Carr told Guardian Australia he would remain as a speaker and supported the board’s decision.

Despite being a vocal critic of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, Carr said he believed some of Abdel Fattah’s previous statements were counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. He said the board made the right decision.

“The Adelaide writers’ festival has supported hearing Palestinian voices, its record on this issue is unquestionable,” Carr said, adding that the board’s decision was not unreasonable given the circumstances at Bondi.

“The board should be supported and people sympathetic to the Palestinian cause should continue to participate.” [the festival].”

In announcing her withdrawal in a social media post, Funeral Rites writer Hannah Kent called the decision to dismiss Abdel-Fattah “a gross act of discrimination and censorship.”

Remeikis condemned the board’s “deliberate choice to silence a leading Palestinian-Australian academic without providing any clear or convincing justification”.

Wright, who is co-curator of the 2025 Bendigo writers festival, which saw a similar mass strike, said he was “appalled” by what he described as the “wrong-mindedness and narrow-mindedness of the Adelaide festival board’s decision”.

Public policy think tank the Australia Institute on Thursday withdrew its sponsorship of the 2026 event, which it has said in the past “promotes courage, freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas”.

Speaking to ABC radio on Friday, Abdel-Fattah said the decision showed what he said were “horrible and shameless anti-Palestinian” views being normalised.

It was “an obscene attempt to associate me with an atrocity… needless to say I had nothing to do with it,” he said.

“As a Palestinian in 2026, who has witnessed the genocide of my people on live television for two years, I cannot believe that I now have to say publicly, ‘I had nothing to do with the Bondi atrocity.'”

Abdul Fattah asked the festival to apologize, retract its statement and reinstate its invitation.

Asked about the boycott, Abdulfettah said it was “encouraging to see the wave and momentum building in solidarity.”

“What made this particularly egregious was that the board knew this was going to happen,” he said.

On Thursday, the academic said he was confident the writing community and the public would respond to the situation “with principle and honesty.”

Last year Abdel-Fattah was among more than 50 writers and presenters who withdrew after the Bendigo writers festival issued a last-minute code of conduct that included instructions to “avoid language or subject matter that could be considered inflammatory, divisive or profane”.

“In the end, the Adelaide writers festival will be left with panelists demonizing the Palestinian with one side of their mouth while waxing poetic about freedom of expression with the other,” he said.

In 2023 Adelaide writers’ week director Louise Adler resisted pressure to withdraw invitations from two Palestinian writers because of their views on Ukraine and Israel.

Stella Prize-winning poet Evelyn Araluen was one of the first writers to openly withdraw from the roster in support of Abdel Fattah on Thursday.

The author of Dropbear and The Rot called the decision a “betrayal” of the democratic values ​​that define the festival.

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“Erasing Palestinians from public life in Australia does not prevent antisemitism. Removing Palestinians from writers’ festivals does not prevent antisemitism. I refuse to take part in this spectacle of censorship.”

The festival board was contacted for comment.