Inside the Adelaide Festival’s public relations disaster

Three days after Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) writer Randa Abdel-Fattah rescinded her invitation, leading to a mass boycott of other writers, which resulted in the cancellation of the entire event and four members of the festival board resigning, with only three remaining to weigh in on the situation.

In addition to the mass withdrawal of writers, sponsors had also withdrawn. Festival staff were subjected to online hate and feared their personal information would be exposed. There were even questions about whether the board could do business with so few members.