The Adelaide Festival is facing an unprecedented crisis after nearly 50 prominent authors and speakers withdrew from its 2026 Writers’ Week, according to theguardian.com. The mass boycott follows the board’s decision to dump Palestinian-Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah from the programme, a move critics have branded “gross discrimination”. The festival board justified the removal of Abdel-Fattah, a Macquarie University academic, by citing “cultural sensitivity” following the recent Bondi terror attack. Abdel-Fattah, who has previously faced criticism from Jewish organisations and the Coalition for her anti-Zionist views, called the association with the Bondi tragedy “obscene”. Evelyn Araluen, the Stella Prize-winning poet described the move as a “betrayal” and a “spectacle of censorship”.

Source: The Guardian January 13, 2026 06:16 UTC