Jacinda Ardern quits Adelaide Festival’s Writers Week appearance

Jacinda Ardern has withdrawn from Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026, joining the majority of speakers boycotting the Adelaide Festival over the cancellation of Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. The boycott currently includes approximately 90 scheduled participants; this makes up about 75% of the original program.

The former New Zealand prime minister was due to be interviewed by the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson. “a conversation about women and power” at Bonython Hall on March 3 at one of the festival’s headline events.