They’ve decided ‘community cohesion’ must come at the cost of controversy.
The Adelaide Festival Board has removed prominent author and Palestinian advocate Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah from its Writers’ Week lineup.
The decision arrives in the fraught aftermath of the Bondi tragedy, a timing the Board calls “unprecedented.”
Officials insist the disinvitation is not a suggestion of any link to the crime but is necessary for “cultural sensitivity”.
The logic presents a curious tightrope: asserting no connection while acting because of the national context following the actions of another Muslim individual.
The move comes shortly after Abdel-Fattah was cleared in a separate, high-profile investigation into her academic funding.
This isn’t the first time the festival’s programming of Palestinian voices has sparked upheaval, having previously lost sponsors and faced political pressure.
The Board’s attempt to navigate grief and “social cohesion” now spotlights a recurring, and arguably weirder, clash between literature, politics, and public pressure.
Read the full announcement here.
