Houdini. Apologies bring Adelaide Festival back from death by own hand
After canceling Adelaide Writers’ Week and apologizing (sort of) for disinviting Randa Abdel-Fattah on bogus grounds, the Adelaide Festival’s new board has issued further apologies.
This time it’s not just an apology, but a full retraction of the January 8 statement that led to the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026:
“We have reversed his decision and will reinstate Dr. Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to speak at the next Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2027. We unreservedly apologize to Dr. Abdel-Fattah for the harm caused to him by the Adelaide Festival Corporation.”
In a separate statement, the board sought to reassure everyone that the Adelaide Festival would go ahead as planned, while also apologizing to Writers’ Week Director Louis Adler, adding:
“We acknowledge the principled stance he took in the extremely difficult decision to resign as director.”
We do not know whether Peter Malinauskas has “expressed his opinion” about this latest act of contrition by the Festival Board, but we note that a show cause notice was sent to the tearful Prime Minister yesterday by Randa Abdel-Fattah’s libel lawyers.
We expect more apologies.
Adelaide Writers’ Week. Well done Zionists. You killed him.
Kim Wingerei is a businessman turned author and commentator. He is passionate about freedom of expression, human rights, democracy and the politics of change. Originally from Norway, Kim has lived in Australia for 30 years. Author of ‘Why Democracy is Broken – A Blueprint for Change’.
