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In brief
- Sydney Writers’ Festival said in a statement it was “not in the business of cancelling or censoring writers”.
- Randa Abdel-Fattah was removed from the Adelaide Writers’ Week line-up this year, leading to a mass boycott.
Renowned Palestinian Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah is set to headline Australia’s largest writers’ festival following a controversial exclusion from another literary event that ignited widespread outrage.
The Sydney Writers’ Festival has announced that Abdel-Fattah, a prominent academic, will be a key figure in its 2026 lineup, encouraging attendees to form their own opinions about her work.
Earlier in 2026, Abdel-Fattah was controversially removed from the Adelaide Writers’ Week schedule. This decision led to a massive boycott by authors and speakers, the resignation of director Louise Adler in protest, and ultimately, the cancellation of the event.
The author’s removal came after she made statements regarding Israel and Zionism, including a contentious post suggesting that Zionists lack a “right to cultural safety.”
In response, the Adelaide Festival board has since apologized and extended an invitation to Abdel-Fattah to participate in the 2027 edition of the festival.
A statement from Sydney Writers’ Festival CEO Brooke Webb and artistic director Ann Mossop supported Abdel-Fattah, adding “without writers, there is no festival”.
“A festival like ours, which holds freedom of expression as a core value, is not in the business of cancelling or censoring writers,” the statement read.
“A writers’ festival provides a rare and welcome opportunity for readers and writers to come together for nuanced conversations about complex and sometimes difficult topics … readers can make up their own minds about what they would like to attend.”
In a post on social media announcing her appearance at the festival, Abdel-Fattah said: “In the midst of suffocating repression and racism, celebrate the wins. May we all remain undisciplined.”
The organisers’ decision to include her defied comments by NSW Premier Chris Minns, who had questioned Abdel-Fattah’s inclusion in another festival at Newcastle.
“We respect public figures and members of the community may hold different views … they are entitled to do so,” the Sydney Writers’ Festival statement read.
Abdel-Fattah had defended her comments in the wake of the Adelaide cancellation, denying she had ever said Jewish people are not entitled to cultural safety.
“But political ideologies cannot use cultural safety as a shield from criticism,” she told ABC Radio in January.
“I’m really fed up with the way my words are being deliberately and maliciously and mendaciously mischaracterised to paint me as an antisemite when I have never, ever expressed any antisemitism.”
She has also flagged a defamation case against South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas over comments comparing her to a “terrorist sympathiser”.
Sydney Writers’ Festival will announce its full 2026 program on 10 March. The event will be held in May.
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