Palestinian-Australian author and advocate Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has been removed from the Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week event.
Abdel-Fattah was slated to speak at next month’s event. However, the festival board said her previous comments mean it would “not be culturally sensitive” to include her in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
The writer said the decision is a “blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism”.
Abdel-Fattah has been a vocal critic of Israel and accused of antisemitism.
Abdel-Fattah
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Palestinian-Australian lawyer, author, and advocate.
She has published 12 books and is a researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, specialising in areas including Islamophobia and Palestine.
At the end of 2024, she wrote on social media: “May 2025 be the end of Israel”. She also wrote, “if you are a Zionist, you have no claim or right to cultural safety”.
Macquarie University vice-chancellor Bruce Dowton told a 2025 parliamentary hearing into antisemitism at universities that some of Abdel-Fattah's comments could be “construed as antisemitic”, but the definition wasn't clear enough for disciplinary action.
He noted her salary comes from an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant and that she doesn't regularly teach or interact with students.
Following that, ARC conducted a 10-month review, temporarily suspending her research grant. She was cleared of wrongdoing last month.
Adelaide Festival
The Adelaide Festival is an annual arts event that has been running since 1960.
Adelaide Writers’ Week is held as part of the event, set to run from 28 February to 5 March.
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This week, festival organisers announced the removal of Palestinian-Australian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 program.
In a statement, the festival board said: “Given [Abdel-Fattah’s] past statements, we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program... so soon after Bondi,” (referring to the 14 December terror attack).
The board said it does “not suggest in any way that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s [sic] or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi.”
Fallout
Readers and Writers Against Genocide (RWAG) confirmed more than 45 authors have withdrawn from the Adelaide Writers’ Week due to the removal of Abdel-Fattah.
Among them are English writer Zadie Smith, Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis, and Miles Franklin Award winner Michelle de Kretser.
The festival has “temporarily unpublished” the list of panellists and events on its website.
Bendigo
Abdel-Fattah was among a group of 50 panellists who withdrew from the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival after disagreeing with a code of conduct distributed by event partner La Trobe University.
Abdel-Fattah said the university’s anti-racism plan “fails to acknowledge anti-Palestinian racism” and uses a definition of antisemitism that “conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism”.
More than 20 sessions were cancelled as a result of the mass withdrawal. The event is not going ahead in 2026.
