Randa Abdel-Fattah to appear at 2027 Adelaide Writers’ Week
Festival director says Palestinian-Australian author has accepted an invitation to appear at the 2027 Adelaide Writers' Week
ADELAIDE, Australia (MNTV) – Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah has accepted an invitation to appear at next year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week, after a furore over the axing of a planned appearance last year led to the 2026 event’s cancellation and the resignation of its director, reports ABC News.
The 2027 festival will include West End play Oedipus starring Richard Roxburgh and Heather Mitchell, Bela Bartok’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle, TAO Dance Theater from Beijing and a “provocative, daring theatre work” from Brazil entitled The Brotherhood.
In January, the Adelaide Festival board decided to remove Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week program, citing her “past statements”, but did not specify which ones.
“Whilst we do not suggest in any way that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, given her past statements we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi,” the board’s statement read.
At the time, Abdel-Fattah said it was “outrageous” to be linked to the incident at Bondi in December last year.
Abdel-Fattah was later the subject of an apology from the Festival Corporation, which invited her back for 2027.
Abdel-Fattah appeared at an alternative literary festival, Constellations, which was organized in the wake of the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week.
Festival board chair Judy Potter, who was appointed in January after all prior board members resigned in the wake of the event cancellation, said she did not consult with the government about reinviting Abdel-Fattah.
“I’m appointed by the government to chair this board and therefore I accept I made those decisions, with the board of course,” she said.
Ms Potter said the board maintained a “very good” relationship with the government.
“I think they [the government] have full confidence with myself, and we are working with them,” Ms Potter said.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said decisions about who appeared in the Adelaide Writers’ Week “is entirely a matter for the festival board”.
“It has always been their judgement and their judgement alone, and they will have to account for it,” he said.
“I have always argued the case that when we see events, particularly like Writers’ Week, that we see them occurring in a way that facilitate the views of all people, not just some, and that’s a principle I think should be abided by, along with respectful and civil discourse of these types of events.”
Adelaide Writers’ Week’s new director Rosemarie Milsom — the successor to Louise Adler, who resigned as director in January in solidarity with Abdel-Fattah — said she backed the author’s inclusion.
“I’ve hosted Randa in my previous job at Newcastle Writers Festival without any issues, sell-out events, standing ovation, and the sky didn’t fall in,” Ms Milsom said.
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