A Palestinian-Australian academic and author has been removed from a major Australian writers' festival over "cultural sensitivity" in the aftermath of a mass shooting.
Randa Abdel-Fattah was the only Palestinian writer scheduled to appear at the Adelaide Writers' Week in February as part of the Adelaide Festival.
But on Thursday, the Adelaide Festival's board publicly announced it "did not wish to proceed" with her appearance, noting the "national grief" and "community tensions" triggered by the Bondi massacre on December 14.
"Given her past statements we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi," the festival said in a lengthy statement.
"We do not suggest in any way that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah's or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi."
It is unclear which "past statements" the festival is referring to, but she has been accused by conservative Jewish groups of sharing posts critical of Israel.
Dr Abdel-Fattah condemned the cancellation, calling the board "egregiously racist" and saying it had attempted to strip her of her humanity.
"This is a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship," she told AAP.
"The board's reasoning suggests that my mere presence is ''culturally insensitive'; that I, a Palestinian who had nothing to do with the Bondi atrocity, am somehow a trigger for those in mourning and that I should therefore be persona non grata in cultural circles because my very presence as a Palestinian is threatening and 'unsafe'."
A number of other writers and academics slated to attend the event, including former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, Stella Prize winner Evelyn Araluen, former political prisoner and foreign correspondent Peter Greste, and two-time Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser have pulled out in solidarity with Dr Abdel-Fattah.
"Erasing Palestinians from public life in Australia won't prevent ant-Semitism. Removing Palestinians from writers festivals won't prevent anti-Semitism," Dr Araluen said.
"I refuse to participate in this spectacle of censorship."
Public policy think tank The Australia Institute has also withdrawn its support and sponsored events from the 2026 festival.
The situation has been compared to the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival, when more than 50 writers and moderators boycotted the event over concerns its code of conduct would suppress discussion of Israel's bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Dr Abdel-Fattah said she was confident the literary community would respond in kind to her cancellation.
"In the end, the Adelaide Writers' Festival will be left with panellists who demonise a Palestinian out of one side of their mouths while waxing lyrical about freedom of speech from the other," she said.
In 2023, Adelaide Writers' Week director Louise Adler faced mounting pressure for her to withdraw invitations to two Palestinian writers over their views on Ukraine and Israel.
