Palestinian author to appear at rebel literary event

The two people at the centre of the Adelaide Writers' Week furore will appear at a rebel literary event following the cancellation of the festival.

Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah will appear alongside former Writers' Week director Louise Adler at "Constellations: Not Writers' Week", and their event is expected to sell out.

In January, Dr Abdel-Fattah was dumped from the Writers' Week program over comments about Israel and Zionism, with the then board citing "cultural sensitivity" over the Bondi massacre.

It sparked about 180 writers to pull out of Writers Week and the eventual cancellation of its 2026 iteration, as well as the replacement of the Adelaide Festival board after all but one director resigned.

Organisers announced the first parts of the Constellations program, described as a grassroots event, on Wednesday, with Dr Abdel-Fattah booked for two appearances.

"I'm so thrilled that she has agreed, after that great insult, to come to Adelaide and be a part of this," said organiser and chair of the Australian Society of Authors, Jennifer Mills.

"I think we should all listen to what she has to say and not what the media has to say about her."

Dr Abdel-Fattah will appear in conversation with Adler at the Adelaide Town Hall on March 1, presented by the Australian Friends of Palestine Association.

Adler announced her resignation as festival director during the Writers' Week furore in mid-January, saying she could not be party to the silencing of writers.

While the former director was invited to appear at Constellations, she has had no involvement in its programming, said Mills.

"We very deliberately avoided remounting any of Louise's programming, it's all very different from her festival," she said.

Several writers from the original festival line up are also appearing, including former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

Dr Abdel-Fattah will also appear in a panel discussion on March 2, titled Rivers of Reason: Blak & Arab Writers in Conversation.

The panel promised to provide a salve in tumultuous times, said author and Rivers of Reason event manager Ren Wyld.

Constellations will also run a mini poetry festival featuring Nobel Prize winner John Coetzee among other guests, as well as a day for children and young readers.

Constellations will be held across various Adelaide venues from February 28 until March 5.