Australia: 180 authors boycott writer festival over suspension of Palestinian writer

The Adelaide Writers’ Festival will not take place this year, organizers announced Wednesday, following a major crisis that saw roughly 180 writers withdraw from the event in protest of the suspension of Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel Fattah. The mass boycott prompted the festival’s management to resign.

The festival, which typically draws nearly 200,000 visitors and was scheduled to open at the end of February, has become the center of a heated debate in Australia.

According to outgoing organizers, Abdel Fattah’s suspension was made “out of respect for the sensitivity of the public and the community” in the wake of the deadly antisemitic attack in Bondi that left 15 victims. Abdel Fattah, a writer and researcher, is known for her outspoken criticism of Israel, which she has accused of committing a “genocide” in Gaza. In April 2024, she also drew controversy for organizing a children’s march to a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Sydney, an event her critics said exploited minors.

In its cancellation statement, the festival management apologized to Abdel Fattah “for the manner in which the decision was presented,” but did not reverse her suspension. The decision comes amid an increasingly cautious stance by Australian authorities toward public pro-Palestinian discourse, which critics claim has fueled antisemitic incidents, including the Bondi attack and other recent acts of anti-Jewish violence.

Abdel Fattah rejected the apology, calling it “an insult to the intelligence of the public.” She accused the festival board of “hypocrisy, manipulation, and defamation,” asserting that her suspension was imposed under pressure from “pro-Israeli lobbying groups and key donors.”

The cancellation of this year’s festival has sparked widespread debate over freedom of expression, political pressure in cultural institutions, and the limits of public discourse on international conflicts in Australia.