Adelaide Writers Week Canceled As 180 Speakers Withdraw Over Palestinian Writer’s Exclusion

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Organizers of Australia’s largest free literary festival canceled the event Tuesday after more than 180 writers and speakers canceled the appearance of an Australian-Palestinian writer and academic.

The uproar began on 8 January when the board of directors of the Adelaide Festival, which organizes Adelaide Writers Week, announced that Dr. It began with the announcement that he was not inviting Randa Abdel-Fattah from the event “due to her previous statements” and citing cultural sensitivities “during this unprecedented time.” Anti-Semitic mass shooting in sydney Bondi Beach.

Board members added that there was no suggestion that Abdel-Fattah or his writings “had any connection with the tragedy.”

They did not cite any specific statements by the lawyer, academic, and writer of fiction and nonfiction that led to their decision. Abdul Fattah called the move “censorship” and said the announcement showed that his “mere existence” was culturally insensitive.

By the time the event was canceled on Tuesday, most of the scheduled speakers had withdrawn. The episode emerged amid an alarming national debate in Australia. Limits of speech Following Bondi’s shooting.

A father and son, apparently inspired by ISIS ideology, are accused of a massacre during a Hanukkah event in December, when 15 people were shot dead. Surviving suspect Naveed Akram has not entered a plea to dozens of murder, terrorism and other charges he faces.

The group’s spokesman, Norman Schueler, told The Adelaide Advertiser that the Jewish Community Council of South Australia, the state in which Adelaide is located, subsequently wrote to the festival to lobby for Abdel-Fattah’s exclusion. The Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskus, also supported the dismissal of the writer.

Adelaide Writers’ Week is planned to run for six days from the end of February as part of a wider annual cultural festival. The 2025 literary event was the festival’s 40th edition and attracted 160,000 attendees.

Abdel-Fattah, who was born in Australia to Palestinian and Egyptian parents, writes frequently about Islamophobia and was invited to talk about his novel Discipline, about two Muslims, a journalist and a university student, who tackle issues of censorship in Sydney. For two years he criticized the Israeli government and became an advocate for the Palestinians. war in Gaza.

Following the board’s announcement canceling Abdel-Fattah’s participation, other speakers in the programme, including British novelist Zadie Smith and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, also withdrew from the events. The festival’s director resigned on Tuesday, citing his objection to the board’s decision to bar Abdel Fattah from the invitation.

Australian Jew Louise Adler wrote in the Guardian that she “cannot stand by the silencing of writers”. He said 70% of the event’s speakers have withdrawn.

In the statement made on the Festival’s Facebook page hours later, it was stated that the event would not continue and all remaining board members would resign. The anonymous statement sought an apology from Abdel Fattah for “how the decision was represented.”

The statement said board members wanted to “reiterate that this is not about identity or dissent, but rather an ongoing rapid shift in national discourse regarding the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terrorist attack in history.”

Abdel-Fattah rejected the apology in a post on Tuesday He said the board apologized for the way his dismissal was presented, but not the decision itself.

Abdul Fattah’s removal also caused some sponsors of the event to withdraw. The fate of the far-reaching Adelaide Festival was uncertain on Tuesday, although a new board was scheduled to be appointed on Wednesday.

The event is a big draw for the state, generating millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs in 2025, according to a report prepared by the festival organization.

Abdel-Fattah’s expulsion comes as changes to the law covering hate speech, protests and weapons are being proposed or introduced in the wake of the Bondi massacre. The state of New South Wales, where the shooting took place, quickly passed legislation in December. ban on protest meetings In the periods following declarations of terrorism.

The state is also working on changes that would criminalize some chants, including those used at pro-Palestinian rallies.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Tuesday that he will recall federal parliament in January to vote on proposed measures to tighten gun controls in Australia and lower criminal thresholds for prosecuting hate speech. there is that too announced a major national investigationA royal commission has been established into antisemitism in Australia and the Bondi attack in particular.

Albanese said that a national day of mourning will be held on January 22 for those killed.