Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah has accepted an unreserved apology from the Adelaide Festival Corporation, after it reversed its decision to exclude her from Adelaide Writers’ Week, describing the move as a vindication of collective opposition to censorship.
In a statement, the festival retracted its earlier claim that it would be “culturally insensitive” for Abdel-Fattah to participate, apologising for the harm caused and acknowledging that it had failed to uphold intellectual and artistic freedom.
“I accept this apology as acknowledgement of our right to speak publicly and truthfully about the atrocities that have been committed against the Palestinian people,” Abdel-Fattah said. “I accept this apology as a vindication of our collective solidarity and mobilisation against censorship.”
The apology follows days of upheaval for the Adelaide Festival of Art, after the decision to remove Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 programme prompted a widespread boycott by authors and commentators, a series of board resignations and the subsequent cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week.
In its statement, the Adelaide Festival Corporation said it had reversed its decision and would reinstate Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to speak at a future Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2027.
“We apologise to Dr Abdel-Fattah unreservedly for the harm the Adelaide Festival Corporation has caused her,” the board said. “Intellectual and artistic freedom is a powerful human right. Our goal is to uphold it, and in this instance Adelaide Festival Corporation fell well short.”
Abdel-Fattah said she would consider the invitation to participate in 2027 “at the appropriate time”, adding that she would accept it immediately if former director Louise Adler were still in the role.
While welcoming the apology, she said it did not repair the wider damage caused by the episode, which she said exposed a lack of racial literacy in public institutions, the need for anti-racism education informed by Indigenous frameworks and stronger safeguards against political interference.
“The statement acknowledges the harm done, but it is not a quick fix to repair the damage and injury inflicted,” she said.
Abdel-Fattah ended her statement by thanking supporters for their solidarity, writing: “We did this together".
