Thomas Friedman says he was uninvited from Adelaide Writers’ Week 2024

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who is Jewish, has said he was uninvited from Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2024, confirming to Nine newspapers that after agreeing to appear by video link he was later notified “that the timing would not work out”. The withdrawal occurred amid a dispute in which a group of 10 academics demanded Friedman’s removal over a recent column that compared the Middle East conflict to the animal kingdom.

The Palestinian author and academic Randa Abdel‑Fattah, who was among the petitioners, was herself uninvited from this year’s writers’ week. The festival board sent a letter saying requests to cancel an artist or writer were “extremely serious” and that the organisation had “an international reputation for supporting artistic freedom of expression”.

The board chair, Tracey Whiting, told the board that Friedman had been programmed to contribute online but was no longer participating because of “last‑minute scheduling issues”. Whiting later resigned as chair and from the board of the Art Gallery of South Australia; Guardian Australia was unable to reach her for comment.

Former board member Tony Berg has circulated a resignation letter alleging Louise Adler lobbied to retract Friedman’s invitation and later said Adler, the festival’s artistic director Ruth MacKenzie and chief executive Kath Mainland threatened to resign if the board did not disinvite him.

Key Topics

Culture, Thomas Friedman, Adelaide Writers Week, Randa Abdel-fattah, Louise Adler, Tony Berg