After cancelling Adelaide Writers’ Week and issuing an apology (of sorts) to Randa Abdel-Fattah for uninviting her on spurious grounds, the new board of Adelaide Festival has issued more apologies.
This time, it’s not just an apology, but a full retraction of the January 8 statement that eventually caused the cancellation of Adelaide Writers Week 2026:
“We have reversed the decision and will reinstate Dr Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to speak at the next Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2027. We apologise to Dr Abdel-Fattah unreservedly for the harm the Adelaide Festival Corporation has caused her.”
In another statement, the board is at pains to reassure everyone that the Adelaide Festival will go ahead as planned, while also apologising to Writers’ Week Director Louis Adler, adding,
“We acknowledge the principled stand she took in the extremely difficult decision to resign from her role as Director.”
We don’t know if Peter Malinauskas “expressed his opinion” on this latest act of contrition by the Festival Board, but we do note that the tearful Premier was issued with a show-cause notice by Randa Abdel-Fattah’s defamation lawyers yesterday.
Expect more apologies.