It was a matter of time. After the resignation of the Adelaide Writers’ Week’s director, Louise Adler, was announced this morning, comes the news that the remaining members of the Adelaide Festival Board have stepped down and that the Adelaide Writers’ Week’s 2026 edition has been shelved.

In a statement released on the afternoon of 13 January, an Adelaide Festival Board spokesperson wrote:

“On 8 January 2026 the Adelaide Festival Board made a decision to rescind the invitation of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to participate in Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026.

As a Board we took this action out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event. Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies.

Many authors have since announced they will no longer appear at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026 and it is the Adelaide Festival’s position that the event can no longer go ahead as scheduled for this year. This is a deeply regrettable outcome.

“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. We also apologise to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision...