Jacinda Ardern pulls out of Adelaide writers’ week as fallout over Randa Abdel-Fattah’s axing continues | Adelaide festival

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has become the latest international headline act to pull out of the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week in protest over the Adelaide festival board’s decision to rescind its invitation to Palestinian-Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Ardern had been scheduled to discuss her memoir A Different Kind of Power with the ABC’s host of 7.30, Sarah Ferguson, on 3 March.

Ardern joins a growing list of international writers and commentators who have decided to boycott the event, along with more than 180 participants. Bestselling author Zadie Smith, Pulitzer prize-winning writer Percival Everett, Greek economist and politician Yanis Varoufakis, Irish novelist Roisín O’Donnell and Russian American journalist M Gessen have all confirmed their withdrawal in recent days.

The row over the programming of Abdel-Fattah for the 2026 event erupted last Thursday when the festival board announced she had been dropped from the lineup due to concern over “cultural sensitivity” after the the Bondi terror attack.

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But ructions within the board over her inclusion began months earlier, with Sydney businessman Tony Berg resigning from the board in October because the academic had been included in the 2026 event.

Berg’s resignation email, sent to South Australian arts minister Andrea Michaels as well the board’s chair Tracey Whiting on 22 October and seen by Guardian Australia, is critical of the writers’ week director, Louise Adler, accusing her of consistently programming writers who have an anti-Israel stance.

“I cannot serve on a board which employs a director of Adelaide Writers Week (AWW) … who programs writers who have a vendetta against Israel and Zionism,” he wrote.

“I am of Jewish heritage and support Zionism in the sense that I support Israel’s right to exist. In all conscience, I cannot remain on the board while these travesties continue and while we are now forced to put up with them for another 18 months. I therefore resign with effect from today.”

In his email, Berg accuses Adler of cancelling New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for the 2024 event, after he published a controversial column days earlier, which compared the Middle East conflict to the animal kingdom.

Guardian Australia revealed on Sunday that the board resisted attempts to remove Friedman at the time, telling Abdel-Fattah and the other signatories that “cancelling an artist or writer is an extremely serious request” and noting that Friedman had dropped out “due to last-minute scheduling issues”.

Abdel-Fattah previously faced sustained criticism from the Coalition, some Jewish bodies and media outlets for controversial comments about Israel, including alleging that Zionists had “no claim or right to cultural safety”.

The Guardian has sought comment from the Adelaide festival board.

Berg indicated in his resignation letter that Adler’s scheduling of Abdel-Fattah at the 2026 event was the last straw.

“Just last month [Adler] did not warn the Board that she had already made an offer to Randa Abdul-Fattah [sic], a person who is not only vociferously pro Palestinian, but also spews anti Zionism and extreme hatred towards all Israelis,” he wrote.

“This gets as close as possible to antisemitism and, in my opinion, crosses the line.”

Adler has declined to comment on Berg’s allegations. Guardian Australia has been unable to contact Berg who is overseas.

In a statement to Guardian Australia, Abdel-Fattah accused Berg of a “patronising and dehumanising erasure of my identity”.

“I am not pro-Palestinian – I am Palestinian, the daughter of a dispossessed Palestinian, refused the right to return, and whose family are refugees in Jordan barred from living in their ancestral home. I will continue, because I am Palestinian, to resist the state that is committing a live-streamed genocide against my people in Gaza.”

Three festival board members and the chair, Whiting, have resigned after the decision to cancel Abdel-Fattah’s engagements at the festival.

On Monday, the Adelaide Festival Corporation’s executive Julian Hobba, put out a brief statement, saying AWW and the Adelaide festival were “navigating a complex and unprecedented moment” and would share further updates as soon as possible.

Former Adelaide festival artistic director and executive director Rob Brookman has resent his open letter to the board demanding it reinstate Abdel-Fattah with the addition of six names of prominent arts leaders who have held senior leadership roles at the festival in the past, including Robyn Archer, Peter Sellars, Stephen Page and Penny Chapman, bringing the total number of signatories to 17.

Given the board has lost four of its seven voting members since the letter’s first draft on Saturday, Brookman concedes that until the arts minister appoints at least one new board member, it is not in a position to make any decisions. The act which governs the Adelaide festival requires a minimum two men and two women on the board.