Writers’ festival drops Palestinian-Australian author
The board of a major festival has cancelled the appearance of a prominent Palestinian author citing ‘cultural sensitivity’ following the Bondi terror attack.
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah Screenshot
A Palestinian-Australian academic and author has been removed from a major Australian writers’ festival over “cultural sensitivity” in the aftermath of a mass shooting.
Randa Abdel-Fattah was the only Palestinian writer scheduled to appear at the Adelaide Writers’ Week in February as part of the Adelaide Festival.
But on Thursday, the Adelaide Festival’s board publicly announced it “did not wish to proceed” with her appearance, noting the “national grief” and “community tensions” triggered by the Bondi massacre on December 14.
“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 festival said in a lengthy statement.
“We do not suggest in any way that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi.”
It is unclear which “past statements” the festival is referring to, but she has been accused by conservative Jewish groups of sharing posts critical of Israel.
Dr Abdel-Fattah condemned the cancellation, calling the board “egregiously racist” and saying it had attempted to strip her of her humanity.
“This is a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” she told AAP.
“The board’s reasoning suggests that my mere presence is ”culturally insensitive’; that I, a Palestinian who had nothing to do with the Bondi atrocity, am somehow a trigger for those in mourning and that I should therefore be persona non grata in cultural circles because my very presence as a Palestinian is threatening and ‘unsafe’.”
A number of other writers and academics slated to attend the event, including former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, Stella Prize winner Evelyn Araluen, former political prisoner and foreign correspondent Peter Greste, and two-time Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser have pulled out in solidarity with Dr Abdel-Fattah.
“Erasing Palestinians from public life in Australia won’t prevent ant-Semitism. Removing Palestinians from writers festivals won’t prevent anti-Semitism,” Dr Araluen said.
“I refuse to participate in this spectacle of censorship.”
Public policy think tank The Australia Institute has also withdrawn its support and sponsored events from the 2026 festival.
The situation has been compared to the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival, when more than 50 writers and moderators boycotted the event over concerns its code of conduct would suppress discussion of Israel’s bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Dr Abdel-Fattah said she was confident the literary community would respond in kind to her cancellation.
“In the end, the Adelaide Writers’ Festival will be left with panellists who demonise a Palestinian out of one side of their mouths while waxing lyrical about freedom of speech from the other,” she said.
In 2023, Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler faced mounting pressure for her to withdraw invitations to two Palestinian writers over their views on Ukraine and Israel.
By: Farid Farid and Kat Wong/AAP
True to form, the AAP do not include context in their journalism. This article should have outlined more of the context as to why Dr Abdel-Fattah may have been uninvited. There is ample evidence with links on the Israellycool website. An extract as follows: She was involved in the publication (doxxing) of a leaked list of Jews on a WhatsApp website. She is on record stating that Jews have “no claim or right to cultural safety,” and it is a “duty […] to ensure that every space Zionists enter is culturally unsafe for them.” She refused to condemn an Islamic terrorist who murdered a Melbourne cafe owner in 2018, writing “I, an Australian Muslim, refuse to condemn the violence that took place on Bourke Street. To ask me to condemn is to strip me of my basic humanity.” There is a viral video or her clapping along as a boy of primary school age chanted “intifada, intifada” at a University protest. She changed her profile picture to a Palestinian Arab paratrooper the day after the October 7 attacks. She is quoted as saying “I don’t see them (Hamas) as a terrorist organisation.” She has called for an “end of Israel” and the “abolishment of the death cult of Zionism.”
Maybe the Royal Commission can use this information to distinguish between what is “free speech” and what is “anti-Semitism” which apparently has no place in Australia.