Speaking out on Gaza: Australian creatives and arts organisations struggle to reconcile competing pressures

Australian novelist Michelle de Kretser gave a speech last month in which she denounced a ‘program of suppression’ against creatives, scholars and journalists for ‘expressing anti-genocide views’ in relation to Israel and Gaza. Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian

When Michelle de Kretser accepted the 2025 Stella prize on 23 May, the celebrated author shared a warning.

“All the time I was writing these words, a voice in my head whispered, ‘You will be punished. You will be smeared with labels as potent and ugly as they’re false,’” De Kretser told the Sydney writers’ festival crowd. “‘Career own goal,’ warned the voice.”