“I Cannot Be Party to Silencing Writers”: Australian Literary Director Resigns After Palestinian Author Is Cancelled
January 18, 2026
“I CANNOT BE PARTY TO SILENCING WRITERS.”
An act of principle not resignation.
Louise Adler stepped down as Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week after a Palestinian author was excluded.
When writers are shut out for their identity or politics, culture becomes censorship.
Standing down was the only honest choice.
THANK YOU LOUISE!
@abcnews_au
#FreeSpeech #WritersResist #gaza #freepalestine #fyp
English Script:
The director of Adelaide Writers Week has resigned, and this is after Days of Fear regarding that decision to cancel a scheduled appearance by a Palestinian Australian author. Louise Adler says the decision to cancel the appearance by Randa Abdel Fattah was made by the Adelaide Festival Board and came despite her strongest opposition. Now, since Abdel Fattah’s appearance was canceled, dozens of writers have chosen to boycott Writers Week, throwing the future of the event and the broader Adelaide Festival into doubt. In an open letter published in The Guardian, Miss Adler said she cannot be party to silencing writers. She went on to say that writers and writing matters, even when they’re presenting ideas that discomfort and challenge us. We need writers now more than ever as our media closes up, as our politicians grow daily more cowed by real power as Australia grows more unjust and unequal. Now Australian’s Writers Week is the canary in the coal mine, she says. Friends and colleagues in the arts. Beware of the future.
