Adelaide Festival Board Statement
13 January 2026
On 8 January 2026 the Adelaide Festival Board made a decision to rescind the invitation of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to participate in Adelaide Writers' Week 2026.
As a Board we took this action out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event. Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies.
Many authors have since announced they will no longer appear at Adelaide Writers' Week 2026 and it is the Adelaide Festival’s position that the event can no longer go ahead as scheduled for this year. 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. 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.
The focus is now on ensuring a successful Adelaide Festival proceeds in a way which safeguards the long and rich cultural legacy of our state but also protects the hardworking staff delivering this important event.
With this in mind all remaining members of the Adelaide Festival Board will today step down – with the exception of Adelaide City Council representative whose term expires on 2 February 2026 - to allow for an orderly transition to a new Board to secure the success of the 2026 Adelaide Festival and beyond.
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AWW event ticket holders: please note that our box office staff will be in touch as soon as practicable with refund information, there is no need to request a refund directly.
