Jacinda Ardern pulls out of Adelaide writers’ week as fallout over Randa Abdel-Fattah’s axing continues | Adelaide festival
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has become the latest international headliner to withdraw from Adelaide writers’ week 2026 in protest at the Adelaide festival board’s decision to cancel an invitation to Palestinian-Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Ardern was scheduled to discuss her memoir A Different Kind of Power with ABC’s 7.30 presenter Sarah Ferguson on March 3.
Ardern, along with more than 180 attendees, joins a growing list of international writers and commentators who have decided to boycott the event. Bestselling author Zadie Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Percival Everett, Greek economist and politician Yanis Varoufakis, Irish novelist Roisín O’Donnell and Russian American journalist M Gessen have confirmed their withdrawal in recent days.
The controversy over the programming of Abdel-Fattah’s 2026 event erupted last Thursday, when the festival board announced that the artist had been removed from the line-up due to concerns about “cultural sensitivity” in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack.
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But disagreements within the board over his inclusion began months ago, with Sydney businessman Tony Berg resigning from the board in October over the academic’s inclusion in the 2026 event.
Berg’s resignation email, sent on October 22 to South Australian arts minister Andrea Michaels and chief executive Tracey Whiting and seen by Guardian Australia, criticizes writers’ week director Louise Adler and accuses her of consistently programming writers with anti-Israel stances.
“I cannot serve on a board that employs a director of Adelaide Writers Week (AWW), which programs writers with a vendetta against Israel and Zionism,” he wrote.
“I am of Jewish origin and I support Zionism in the sense that I support Israel’s right to exist. In good conscience, I cannot remain on the board while these disgraces continue and we have to endure them for another 18 months. Therefore, I am resigning, effective today.”
In his email, Berg accuses Adler of canceling New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for the 2024 event. published a controversial column days ago he compared the conflict in the Middle East to the animal kingdom.
Guardian Australia said in a statement on Sunday that the board had resisted attempts to remove Friedman at the time, telling Abdel-Fattah and other signatories that “canceling an artist or writer is an extremely serious request” and noting that Friedman had left “due to last-minute scheduling issues”.
Abdel Fattah had previously faced sustained criticism from the Coalition and some Jewish organizations and media outlets for controversial comments about Israel, including the claim that Zionists “have no claim or right to cultural security”.
The Guardian sought comment from the Adelaide festival board.
In his resignation letter, Berg stated that Adler’s scheduling of Abdel-Fattah for the 2026 event was the final straw.
“Just last month [Adler] He did not warn the Board that he had already made an offer to Randa Abdul-Fattah [sic]“An individual who is not only vociferously pro-Palestinian, but also spews anti-Zionism and extreme hatred towards all Israelis,” he wrote.
“This comes as close to anti-Semitism as it gets, and I think it crosses the line.”
Adler declined to comment on Berg’s allegations. Guardian Australia was unable to contact Berg, who is abroad.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, Abdel-Fattah accused Berg of “erasing my identity in an arrogant and dehumanizing way”.
“I am not pro-Palestine. I am Palestinian, the daughter of a dispossessed Palestinian who was denied the right to return and whose family became refugees in Jordan and were banned from living in their ancestral home. Because I am Palestinian, I will continue to resist the state that is committing live-streamed genocide against my people in Gaza.”
Following Abdel-Fattah’s decision to cancel events at the festival, three festival board members and president Whiting resigned.
On Monday, Adelaide Festival Corporation director Julian Hobba issued a brief statement saying AWW and the Adelaide festival were “going through a complex and unprecedented time” and would share further updates as soon as possible.
Former Adelaide festival artistic director and chief executive Rob Brookman took umbrage in an open letter to the board calling for Abdel-Fattah to be reinstated and the addition of six prominent arts leaders who have held senior leadership roles at the festival in the past, including Robyn Archer, Peter Sellars, Stephen Page and Penny Chapman, bringing the total number of signatories to 17.
Given that the board has lost four of its seven voting members since the letter’s first draft on Saturday, Brookman concedes that he is in no position to make any decisions until the arts minister appoints at least one new board member. The law governing the Adelaide festival requires at least two men and two women to be on the board.
Meanwhile, other criticisms came from within the Labor Party. Resources minister Madeleine King said at a press conference on Monday that she had “requested unity with Prime Minister Malinauskas” after the prime minister reiterated his support for the board’s decision on Saturday.
King claimed that Abdel Fattah “does not deserve to be invited to the writers’ festival” in light of his public views.
Asked whether Malinauskas and the board should listen to calls from former board members and prominent cultural figures for Abdel Fattah to be reinstated, King said “absolutely not.”
