Author Trent Dalton withdraws from 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week
Updated ,first published
One of Australia’s best-selling authors has joined dozens of authors withdrawing from Adelaide Writers’ Week following the Adelaide Festival board’s decision to remove it. Palestinian-Australian author Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah from the lineup.
Trent Dalton, author of novels including the 2018 hit The Boy Devours the UniverseHe confirmed to this imprint on Saturday that he would not attend the literary festival but did not comment further.
The Adelaide Festival board said on Thursday that while it did not “in any way” suggest that Abdel-Fattah or his writings had any connection to the deadly terror attack at Bondi in December, it “would not be culturally sensitive to continue programming it at such an unprecedented time so soon after Bondi” given his past statements.
Asked on Saturday whether writers’ week would go ahead and how many writers are currently withdrawing, an Adelaide Festival spokesman declined to comment. Dalton’s publisher, HarperCollins, has also been contacted for comment.
Dalton was named the second best-selling Australian fiction writer of the year in 2025 for his latest novel: Gravity Let Me GoIt sells 74,530 copies.
A recently released Netflix adaptation The Boy Devours the Universe He brought his story to the world, based on his own childhood growing up with a drug-addict mother and a heroin-dealing stepfather. At the same time, sales of his novel surpassed the million mark.
He joins high-profile writers including star British author Zadie Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Percival Everett, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and American journalist Masha Gessen in withdrawing from the event.
Melbourne writer Toni Jordan also confirmed to this imprint on Saturday that she too had withdrawn from Writers’ Week.
Other prominent Australian authors who have withdrawn include Helen Garner, Michelle de Kretser, Melissa Lucashenko, Hannah Kent, Evelyn Araluen, Jane Caro and Peter Greste, as well as this imprint’s writers Peter FitzSimons and Kate Halfpenny.
Booker Prize-winning Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan expressed his support even though he wasn’t in the squad For those who boycott
AWW, one of the largest and most loved literary festivals in the country, is scheduled to be held between February 28 and March 5. But it was missing from the program website on Friday, with a note that read: “In response to the requests of writers who have recently stated that they have withdrawn from the Writers’ Week 2026 program, we have temporarily taken down the list of participants and events while we work on changes.”
Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler has not spoken publicly since the board’s announcement on Thursday. This year he was fourth in the role, and many of the retreat writers paid tribute to his work.
Concerns were expressed by many writers about the language in the Adelaide Festival board’s statement, which referred to the “cultural sensitivity” of a Palestinian-Australian writer who appeared at the event so soon after the iconic Sydney beach shooting last month.
Last year this masthead has been reported Following concerns raised by a group called Australian Academic Alliance Against AntisemitismAbout the previous public comment made by Abdel-Fattah, also known as 5A, before attending the Bendigo Writers Festival. He referred to a series of social media posts, including those claiming that Zionists “have no claim to cultural security” and that institutions that value “Zionists’ fragile emotions” are “disgusting”.
in 2024 Accused of slandering Jewish creators and was also criticized for the use of an image. Paratrooper under the Palestinian flag Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said this week he supported the festival board’s decision. “When asked for my opinion, I was happy to make it clear that the state government did not support Dr Abdel-Fattah’s inclusion in the Adelaide Writers’ Week programme.”
Start your day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
