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Australian writers’ festival cancelled after Palestinian author axed
A top writers’ festival in Australia has been called off amid controversy over the cancellation of a scheduled appearance by a prominent Australian Palestinian activist and author.
The organisers of Adelaide Writers’ Week said on Tuesday that the event could no longer go ahead following a wave of speaker withdrawals and board resignations prompted by the removal of Randa Abdel-Fattah from the lineup.
In a statement, the festival’s board said while it had disinvited Abdel-Fattah out of respect for the Jewish community in the wake of the Bondi Beach mass shooting, the decision had created “more division”.
“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,” the board said.
“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.”
Abdel-Fattah said in a statement shared on social media that she did not accept the board’s apology, calling it “disingenuous”.
“It is clear that the board’s regret extends to how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself,” Abdel-Fattah said.
“Once again, the Board citing the ‘national discourse’ for an action that specifically targets me, a Palestinian Australian Muslim woman, is explicitly articulating that I cannot be part of the national discourse, which is insulting and racist in the extreme. The Board again reiterates the link to a terror attack I had nothing to do with, nor did any Palestinian.”
