Talk:Adelaide Writers' Week boycott

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Inclusion of Abdel-Fattah's previous actions

I have just reverted the removal of some content by Ezra Fox, not because I want to insist that they should be including, but believe that this needs some discussion and consensus. These matters have been brought up in recent articles and Wikipedia should not be seen to be excluding what the board and premier see as reasons for her exclusion. What do other editors think, and what rules should apply here? Laterthanyouthink (talk) 08:22, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

I would be cautious about using Sky News Australia as a source for this. The cited article in question seems to me as more or less commentary with a compilation of tweets, with quotes from such notable figures as Avi Yemini, and a, er, "former Liberal Democrat candidate for Wentworth". I don't think it's appropriate to say that Abdel-Fattah posted an image of a "Hamas paraglider" off this source alone, and in general I would err towards more august sources on this topic. LivelyRatification (talk) 08:30, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

Taking a closer look at it now, and I think a good chunk of the 2026 event ought to have information about Abdel-Fattah trimmed or removed. Unless her position on Hamas being terrorists or not has been mentioned in more recent news coverage, I don't think a Sky News video from October 2023 is worth citing, and neither do I think the J.E.W.I.S.H. thing ought to, unless pointing to current coverage that says "some of the concern around Abdel-Fattah is due to the fact that she doesn't think Hamas are terrorists, or that she shared leaked info", etc etc. Part of the difficulty here is that the stated reasoning was opaque, but that doesn't mean it's up to us to infer reasoning based off things she believes or has said. We should synthesise current news reports on this matter, and not grab from things that pre-date the boycott. LivelyRatification (talk) 08:35, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

Agree about being cautious about Sky News - hence my addition citing them as the source for content that was previously added without mentioning who reported it. I am just a bit mindful of leaving out completely what was presumably the basis for the dis-invitation, as people who had never heard of her (probably most readers of the news articles!) may be wondering what she is supposed to have said or done that led them to this action.

Anyway I appreciate welcome the discussion - will come back to it when my brain has woken up and I can look at the article with fresh eyes again. Trying to get the right balance - and structure - for this article has been challenging. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 22:41, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

I found a paywalled article from The Australian and also consulted MS Copilot (AI) about the supposed 8 October social media posting, and have including my findings with a footnote there. It could just be complete fabrication, or something she had up there briefly, we will never know - but it's surprising that nobody did a screenshot, if they thought it was so newsworthy. I could be convinced otherwise, but think perhaps it's worth noting in the article just to convey the lack of independent verification for this, as it seems to keep getting repeated in the usual news media. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 00:25, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

Also, searching all online news sources available via Newsbank via State Library, not a single article in the months following 7 October mentions such a post by her. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 00:32, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

Some of this feels like bordering on WP:No original research. If a number of sources state it (i:e, Sky News Australia and The Australian), and no sources have explicitly cast doubt on it, I don't think we ought to say that these claims have not been independently verified or screenshotted. Certainly these are sources slanted to the right-wing, but if they are unreliable, they should be removed. Otherwise, it might be worth attributing, but I don't think we can just say "this has not been independently verified". LivelyRatification (talk) 00:41, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

We can in a footnote. I have seen similar. Anyway - I have other work to get on with so will leave it to you and others now. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 00:55, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

What I thought was "she posted an image of a paraglider silhouetted against a Palestinian flag on social media." I believe I saw an image of that, I'll look more for it. But that quote is from this article: https://www.jfeed.com/news-world/adelaide-writers-week-boycott

It does link to a tweet that has an image, I'm uncertian it's the image mentioned in other articles Ezra Fox🦊 • (talk) 05:41, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

I looked more and I struggled to find good sources for this. I did see this claim was made by a senator in the Australia Parliament - https://apan.org.au/auspol/senator-sarah-henderson-estimates-questions-regarding-research-grant-to-dr-abdel-fattah/

Notably they did not directly accuse her of posting a Hamas Paraglider. I think if that's an acceptable source, we would likely want to use similar language, such as saying it was reminiscent of the paraglider by Hamas or interpreted by several news outlets to be a Hamas paraglider, so as to avoid violating WP:BLP Ezra Fox🦊 • (talk) 06:07, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks. I did cite Sarah Henderson's original letter to Jason Clare. I just don't have the energy or time to review it all now - will leave it to you and Burrobert - may look later or tomorrow. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 08:10, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

She said something about this on ABC News tonight. Hopefully it will be accurately reported tomorrow. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 09:20, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

I added that reporting. It could likely be tightened up more to be more concise. I don't know if all the quoting from her was really necessary. Someone should also add Tony Berg's resignation over her inclusion months earlier, right now I'm not quite sure what section it would go in though. Ezra Fox🦊 • (talk) 00:41, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

sry I should probably delete my new section and maybe move it here, I'm just seeing this now Ezra Fox🦊 • (talk) 08:31, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

here is the comment I made:

I removed some of past statements about Abdel-Fattah because I feel they were WP:UNDUE. @Laterthanyouthink reverted that change, citing the fact those statements were mentioned in news coverage of this boycott. I think it's important any controversial edit is discussed first, so they probably made the right call.

I will say I'm uncertain the statements are currently in the right section, and I don't believe the specific phrasing of a "Hamas paraglider" is accurate. Other than that, I think clearly her past statements are relevant and should be brought up in some way, with it being a matter of opinion how in depth to go. I would appreciate thoughts from others on what the appropriate level of coverage is here to balance different Wikipedia principles. Thanks! Ezra Fox🦊 • (talk) 08:36, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

No worries, and thanks. Yes, I'm not too sure about the Hamas paraglider either, although it was reported in several sources with slight variations. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 22:43, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

I have reservations about some of the sourcing similar to those mentioned above.

• Avoid Sky News Aust sourcing about this if possible.
• Our treatment of the para-glider/paratrooper/parachutist allegation is a bit clumsy now. It seems unlikely that all three allegations are true. I don't think an allegation by Sky News would be suitable for this. Leaving the whole thing out would solve the contradiction between the sources but could be interpreted as censorship. Providing all three allegations with attribution would give this more weight than it deserves given the coverage.
• Quoting Sky News Australia's Oscar Godsell opinion is undue but it would probably be possible to find something similar from a better source.
• Why are we mentioning the doxing incident based on a 2024 source in a section called "Speculation as to reasons for decision". Did any source speculate that the doxing incident prompted the decision?
• Who is Norman Schueler and why is he described as the "Instigator of Abdel-Fattah's removal". The ABC source says he is the Jewish Community Council of South Australia public and government liaison" and it was the council which sent a letter to the AF board. Burrobert (talk) 07:17, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 12 January 2026

Re-phrasing the 'Easteregg' with direct quotes. If you can't get past the Paywall to verify, it's verbatim from the headline article, Advertiser Saturday 10th Jan, citeref that instead (or both).

CHANGE:

Reactions to the boycott

Instigator of Abdel-Fattah's removal, Norman Schueler, stated that he was "very, very surprised it appears a large cohort of people have decided to support [Abdel-Fattah]".

TO:

Reactions to the boycott

Instigator of Abdel-Fattah's removal, Norman Schueler, stated that he was "very, very surprised it appears a large cohort of people have decided to support [Abdel-Fattah]". In an interview with the Murdoch press he spoke of those who had boycotted (whose individual motivations are unknown, and could have included concerns over freedom of speech, censorship, political interference, or solidarity with fellow authors), and portrayed them all as agreeing with everything Abdel-Fattah had said. Schueler was quoted as saying "I think for everyone who has dropped out that it's rather pathetic because that means they agree with what Dr Abdel-Fattah is on about. Namely, that Israel should not exist."---> ~2026-25510-0 (talk) 20:13, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: Your proposed addition contains editorializing and is not written neutrally. Stick to what the source says. Day Creature (talk) 20:33, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

well then CHANGE TO:

Instigator of Abdel-Fattah's removal, Norman Schueler, stated that he was "very, very surprised it appears a large cohort of people have decided to support [Abdel-Fattah]". In an interview with the Murdoch press he spoke of those who had boycotted as agreeing with everything Abdel-Fattah had said. Schueler was quoted as saying "I think for everyone who has dropped out that it's rather pathetic because that means they agree with what Dr Abdel-Fattah is on about. Namely, that Israel should not exist."

References

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 12 January 2026 (2)

More info on 2024 and attempt at board control over programming, Previous protests section. New refs are also printed stories in The Advertiser if you can't get past the paywall

CHANGE:

In February 2024, Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, along with nine other academics, sent a letter to AF board chair Tracey Whiting, AWW director Louise Adler, and AF CEO Kath Mainland, asking them to rescind an invitation to New York Times pro-Israeli columnist Thomas L. Friedman. According to former AWW director Jo Dyer, it was common to receive requests to exclude people from the event, but generally not acted upon. On that occasion the board supported Friedman's ongoing participation, but he decided to withdraw owing to his own scheduling clash. Whiting wrote to the ten signatories on the letter "Asking the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writers' Week to cancel an artist or writer is an extremely serious request. We have an international reputation for supporting artistic freedom of expression".

TO: In the leadup to the 2024 Writer's week, the board again attempted to impose changes to the Writers' Week program. After the paper guide had already been printed, in an attempt to placate the board Louise Adler hastily added New York Times pro-Israeli columnist Thomas L. Friedman to the program. This haste led to a scheduling conflict, leading Friedman to ultimately withdraw.

Seperately to this, Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, along with nine other academics, sent a letter to AF board chair Tracey Whiting, AWW director Louise Adler, and AF CEO Kath Mainland, asking them to rescind the invitation to Friedman. According to former AWW director Jo Dyer, it was common to receive requests to exclude people from the event, but generally not acted upon. On that occasion the board supported Friedman's ongoing participation, but he decided to withdraw owing to his own scheduling clash. It is unclear if Friedman knew of the petition against him at the time of his withdrawl. Whiting wrote to the ten signatories on the letter "Asking the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writers' Week to cancel an artist or writer is an extremely serious request. We have an international reputation for supporting artistic freedom of expression".

When the 2026 program was revealed internally to the board (showing Abdel-Fattah's inclusion), in a final attempt at influencing the program, Tony Berg finally made good on his promise to resign from the board. ~2026-25510-0 (talk) 20:39, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

References

 Not done Apart from the fact I don't have time to get to those articles now, you have not made clear what relevance all this detail has to do with the subject of this particular article, and words such as "in an attempt to placate the board Louise Adler hastily added..." are clearly editorialising.

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 12 January 2026 (3)

Responses section:

ADD:

On January 13th, Louise Adler resigned as artistic director of Writers' Week, citing the continued lobbying, political, and board pressure on her programming. ~2026-25224-9 (talk) 21:54, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

References

Already done Lead and § Response by the organisers and government were updated. ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email · global) 02:42, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Edit request 13 January 2026

Update to reflect the Board's decision to cancel the 2026 event.

Diff:

−

All members of the Adelaide Festival board except for 1 resigned following the backlash. [[Louise Adler]], director of Adelaide Writers' Week, who had disagreed with the board, announced her resignation on 13 January 2026, saying that she could not be party to silencing writers. As of this date, 180 participants had withdrawn from Writers' Week.

+

All members of the Adelaide Festival board except for 1 resigned following the backlash. [[Louise Adler]], director of Adelaide Writers' Week, who had disagreed with the board, announced her resignation on 13 January 2026, saying that she could not be party to silencing writers. As of this date, 180 participants had withdrawn from Writers' Week. On Tuesday 13 January 2026, the Adelaide Festival announced the “deeply regrettable outcome” that Adelaide Writers’ Week “can no longer go ahead as scheduled for this year”<cite class="citation web cs1">[https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/news/2025/adelaide-festival-board-statement-13-january-2026 "Adelaide Festival Board Statement"]. ''Adelaide Festival''. 13 January 2026<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">13 January</span> 2026</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Adelaide+Festival&rft.atitle=Adelaide+Festival+Board+Statement&rft.date=2026-01-13&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adelaidefestival.com.au%2Fnews%2F2025%2Fadelaide-festival-board-statement-13-january-2026&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATalk%3AAdelaide+Writers%27+Week+boycott" class="Z3988"></span></ref>.

Elliottbledsoe (talk) 06:01, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

This has now been covered, thank you. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 06:33, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

New discussion

I'm only starting this new thread because the earlier discussions have got partly lost in a tangled thread above, and also quite a bit has been reported since. I have not had time to attend to this article today as I have been working against the clock on something else. I hope to come back to it once the dust has settled. I did just add a Media coverage section - with an editors' note - may not need to stay there, but there may be more to add to this. At the least the first sentence or two could just have a few of the already-used Australian citations at the end, just for verification purposes. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 06:39, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

New Adelaide Festival board announced

Not being a local, I have no idea if InDaily is RS. "Arts leader, newsreader and finance guru take over Adelaide Festival Board". InDaily, Inside South Australia. 13 January 2026. Retrieved 13 January 2026.

There's also a paywalled article in the Advertiser: Writers’ Week canned, new board brought in and axed author fires back ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email · global) 22:29, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Yes, InDaily is a generally good source for local news. I have used it extensively in the past and found it neutral and reliable. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 23:03, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

I have now used those sources, thank you, after being able to access the paywalled article via the library. Also did a bit more adding and shuffling, and would appreciate further copyediting as it could do with another pair of eyes (or three). Laterthanyouthink (talk) 08:09, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

I made a couple edits, I think it looks good. How/when do you archive topics on a talk page? Like the top one could probably be archived Ezra Fox🦊 • (talk) 10:02, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Does Randa Abdel-Fattah identify herself as "Palestinian-Australian"?

According to the hidden comment at the first mention of her name, Randa Abdel-Fattah "does not identify as Palestinian-Australian". However, in the footnotes in the article she is directly quoted as referring to herself as "a Palestinian-Australian Muslim woman" in her response to the cancellation. So, apparently, her thinking and comments about herself in this regard have not been consistent. I will edit the hidden comment accordingly, but I invite any thoughts that others may have about this matter. Regards, Quizical (talk) 05:38, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

Good pickup, Quizical. I also think I came across something the other day where she called herself Palestinian. I had made a note about her identity when someone questioned it, so after doing a google and coming across a 2016 interview with her, I quoted this at length in her own article (see footnote there). I just don't know, but feel free to change it to this designation, perhaps with a footnote too? She has perhaps come to identify more as Palestinian since the conflict, and perhaps more in touch with her father's side of the family. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 07:11, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

Mention of Deborah Conway

Thanks for the additional info, Burrobert, but that bit about Conway is still lacking in detail and looks as if they wanted her cancelled just because she's Jewish. I had a v quick Google and of course there was more to it than that - see here and here. I'm not convinced that all of the background around this is really necessary in this article, although perhaps it has a place in the Conway article. Also, it kind of confuses the bit about the doxxing incident. It's impossible to cover all of the objections to her past actions, views, and utterances anyway, so we have to be selective here. What do people think? Laterthanyouthink (talk) 12:10, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

This goes back to my edit here . Prior to that edit the text said "The writer Lee Kofman wrote that many in the literary world who protested against Abdel-Fattah's cancellation, had actively and passively pushed for the cancellation of Jews in the arts". The source provided was referring specifically to Deborah Conway. I don't have an opinion about whether this is a suitable inclusion in this article. Burrobert (talk) 12:36, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

This is clearly opinion, and I don't think it belongs in this article, especially unchallenged. We cannot cover all nuances of all opinions, but just do our best to cover the facts. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 13:07, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

Right-ho. Burrobert (talk) 13:24, 21 January 2026 (UTC)