The Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) has been cancelled, with the remaining members of the Adelaide Festival (AF) board to step down following the axing of Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah.

According to ABC, this follows the resignation of AWW director Louise Adler and the withdrawal of over 180 participants. AF board chair Tracey Whiting stepped down on Sunday, after the resignation of three board members the day prior, making it difficult for the board to continue functioning.

The AF board also issued an apology to Abdel-Fattah, saying that “this is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history.”

Abdel-Fattah rejected the apology in an Instagram post. “To be Palestinian in this world is to confront the violence of erasure, gas-lighting and dehumanisation over and over again,” her post read. “For the sake of our liberation struggle we are forced to endlessly insist on our humanity, police our tone, code-switch our language to be heard, to be palatable.”

“It is clear that the board’s regret extends to how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself,” she added.

The board had previously cited the “tragic events at Bondi” to axe Abdel-Fattah, saying that it would not be “culturally sensitive” to proceed with her programme at the festival.

Abdel-Fattah—fresh off the release of her novel Discipline, which “tallies the price we all pay when those with privilege choose to remain silent”—then pointed out that the board was “egregiously racist” in attempting to associate her ethnicity with the Bondi massacre in December last year.

(Via ABC)