![\"Kerrie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/19b129947b6b8f4aeec0daaa2794d90b18cf47da.png\")
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January 12, 2026 \u2014 12:21pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n Adelaide Festival chair Tracey Whiting has resigned, becoming the fourth board member to quit over the decision to remove Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the Writers\u2019 Week program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whiting announced her resignation in a post to LinkedIn<\/a> on Sunday evening, writing \u201cRecent decisions were bound by certain undertakings and my resignation enables the Adelaide Festival, as an organisation, to refresh its leadership and its approach to these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n She did not offer further comment.<\/p>\n With only three remaining members \u2013 Leesa Chesser, Adelaide city councillor Mary Couros, and Brenton Cox \u2013 former Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week director Jo Dyer said on BlueSKy <\/a>the board was now in breach of the Adelaide Festival Corporation Act which states, \u201cAt least 2 members must be women and at least 2 must be men.\u201d<\/p>\n Last Thursday, the Adelaide Festival board announced that while it was not suggesting \u201cin any way\u201d that Abdel-Fattah or her writing had any connection with the Bondi attack, given her past statements \u201cit would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article The move prompted dozens of authors to pull out of the festival, including best-selling Australian author Trent Dalton<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Monday, Dyer \u2013 who ran the event from 2019 to 2020 \u2013 said on Radio National there had been pressure over the line-up in the past but that she and other directors pushed back. This time, however, she said the board had \u201cbuckled\u201d and would no longer be able to legally function.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, it puts the board in an invidious position to their discredit. They were not able to withstand that pressure as they should have. But now we don\u2019t have a functioning organisation, and it is the people of Adelaide and South Australia who are the victims of this debacle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In 2024, Abdel-Fattah was among the signatories to a letter to Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week requesting the removal of New York-based opinion writer Thomas Friedman from the line-up because of his comments in a New York Times article<\/a> comparing the situation in the Middle East to the animal kingdom.<\/p>\n However, in a response seen by this masthead, dated February 9, 2024, the festival board rejected this petition. Signed by the (now former) chair of the board Tracey Whiting, it reads: \u201cAsking the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writers\u2019 Week to cancel an artist or writer is an extremely serious request. We have an international reputation for supporting artistic freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to the Guardian on Sunday, Abdel-Fattah rejected any allegation of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were concerned about the impact of Friedman\u2019s views on socially and historically marginalised people who have been dehumanised and discriminated against…,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIn contrast, I was cancelled because my presence and identity as a Palestinian was deemed \u2018culturally insensitive\u2019 and linked to the Bondi atrocity.\u201d<\/p>\n The Adelaide Festival did not respond to questions about the incident.<\/p>\n The Adelaide Advertiser reports<\/a> that former Adelaide Festival board member Tony Berg resigned in October, citing concerns Writers\u2019 Week director Louise Adler \u201cdid not warn the board that she had already made an offer to Randa Abdel-Fattah\u201d and, given her anti-Zionist stance, he could not \u201cin all conscience\u201d remain.<\/p>\n Abdel-Fattah sent a legal letter to the festival<\/a> on Sunday, demanding to know why she had been disinvited from the event.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: this story was edited to amend quotes offensive to Muslims and Jews.<\/p>\n The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Tracey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1ee199b996319781350fa3164a8aff627bdb3e20.jpeg\")
Tracey Whiting has resigned as chair of the Adelaide Festival Board.<\/p>\n![\"Randa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/886e778c355927b2808451fd72ff45483e495a66.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c0d7146833d5649adc28b7b385ba04e33cfb9b96.jpeg\")
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah.<\/p>\n![\"Academic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768128253_891_10f77499827204838f1541f5c823fe2a98092ca9.jpeg\")
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