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.
Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah will headline Australia's largest writers' festival after her removal from another literary event sparked national furore.
Sydney Writers' Festival has confirmed the high-profile academic will feature in its 2026 program, inviting attendees to make up their own mind about her writing.
Abdel-Fattah was booted from the line-up at Adelaide Writers' Week earlier in 2026, sparking a mass boycott by speakers and authors, the resignation of director Louise Adler in protest, and culminating in the event's cancellation.
The author was removed from the event after comments about Israel and Zionism, including a widely reported post in which she said Zionists had "no right to cultural safety".
The Adelaide Festival board has since apologised and invited her back for the 2027 edition.
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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