Adelaide Festival: paying a price for axing Palestinian voices

JVL Introduction

Since this article was written, even more writers, including Zadie Smith, who were scheduled to take part in the Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week have withdrawn in protest at the ban on award winning novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah taking part. The issue for them is that she is also an advocate for Palestinian rights

The notion that it would be “culturally insensitive” to have an advocate for Palestinian freedom and justice after the dreadful antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in December is without foundation and, indeed, conflating the two things is a dangerous path to take.

This action by the Festival Board is now plunging the Adelaide Writers’ Week into disarray.  Of course, this is nothing new and this article from Arts Hub outlines similar actions – and reactions – in recent times as well as links to the statement by the Board and Ms, Abdel-Fattah’s response.

These attempts to silence Palestinians and others who support Palestinian rights and oppose Israel or Zionism are backfiring, especially in the context of the Gaza genocide and the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.  We applaud those who have withdrawn and trust that event organisers will stop issuing such bans and stand for free speech as well as justice for oppressed people.

LL

This article was originally published by The Guardian on Fri 9 Jan 2026. Read the original here.