Adelaide Writers’ Week Cancelled
The cancellation comes after Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah had her invitation to Adelaide Writers' Week rescinded.
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The 2026 edition of Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week has been cancelled, while the remaining members of the Adelaide Festival board will step down.
The decision comes in the wake of the uproar created after the Adelaide Festival asked Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah not to attend this year’s event.
The decision led to the majority of writers withdrawing from Writers’ Week, along with artists set to perform at Adelaide Festival’s music program Tryp.
Today, the Adelaide Festival have released a statement outlining the decision to cancel this year’s festival, writing that “this is a deeply regrettable outcome.”
“We recognise and deeply regret the distress this decision has caused to our audience, artists and writers, donors, corporate partners, the government and our own staff and people,” the statement continues. “We also apologise to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was represented and reiterate this is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history.
“We acknowledge and are committed to rebuilding trust with our artistic community and audience to enable open and respectful discussions at future Adelaide Writers' Week events.”
You can read the full statement below.
The cancellation of this year’s Writers’ Week comes after more than 180 writers dropped out of the festival, and Louise Adler, the director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, announced her resignation via an article in The Guardian earlier today.
“I cannot be party to silencing writers, so with a heavy heart I am resigning from my role as the director of the AWW,” Adler told The Guardian.
“Writers and writing matters, even when they are presenting ideas that discomfort and challenge us. We need writers now more than ever, as our media closes up, as our politicians grow daily more cowed by real power, as Australia grows more unjust and unequal.”
All remaining members of the board have agreed to step down, bar the Adelaide City Council representative, whose term expires on 2 February. They will stay on to help with the takeover by the new board.
Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026 was set to run from 28 February until 5 March.
