Adelaide Writers' Week

History

The first Adelaide Writers' Week was held in 1960 as part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, biennially in March. It is the longest-running dedicated writers' festival in Australia. The first event was organised by a committee headed by state librarian Hedley Brideson, in collaboration with the Fellowship of Australian Writers (SA). Initially intended as a forum for writers, the event soon became popular with the public, in particular when guests included famous writers such as Russian poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko in 1966, followed in the early 1970s by Anthony Burgess, Edna O'Brien, John Updike, and Allen Ginsberg. In those years it was held at the State Library and University of Adelaide, which proved too small to accommodate audiences, so in 1976 was moved to the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, alongside King William Road next to the Torrens Parade Ground. At this time, the event took place under one tent.

The event soon grew, and publishers were drawn by the commercial opportunities. In 1986 a second tent was added to allow two sessions to run contemporaneously.

In some years, WW has been dedicated to a writer; these have included Colin Thiele, Thomas Shapcott, Margo Lanagan, Christopher Koch, Judith Wright, Jessica Anderson, A. D. Hope, and Alexis Wright.

It has grown bigger year by year. In 2014, graphic novels and comics, represented by their authors and illustrators, were showcased in a dedicated one-day program.

At the 2023 edition, three authors, Ukrainian-born Australian, Maria Tumarkin, along with Ukrainian writers Olesya Khromeychuk and Kateryna Babkina, withdrew, owing to the inclusion of Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa, who had shared a tweet from Vladimir Putin saying which included the words "DeNazify Ukraine". Three large sponsors subsequently withdrew their support for the festival.

In its 40th edition in 2025, Writers' Week was attended by around 160,000 over the six days, breaking previous records.

2026 boycott

Main article: Adelaide Writers' Week boycott

On 8 January 2026, the Adelaide Festival Board announced that Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah's scheduled appearance at AWW had been cancelled, following a request from the Jewish Community Council of South Australia, due to concerns over "cultural sensitivity", following the December 2025 Bondi Beach shooting. Abdel-Fattah has frequently criticised Israel. After 180 participants, 6 of 7 board members, and the festival director had withdrawn or resigned, the event was completely cancelled on 13 January, with a new AF board announced later that day, led by former chair Judy Potter.

A one-off festival titled Constellations is being organised by Writers SA, independent publisher Pink Shorts Press, and other community groups. An afternoon event featuring former Greek Finance Minister and author Yanis Varoufakis (who had been scheduled to appear at AWW), along with former Greens leader Bob Brown and others, was announced on 28 January.

Description

Writers' Week is a mostly free daytime week-long literary festival held mostly outdoors in the shady Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, north of Adelaide CBD. A few sessions have been held indoors in the evening, usually themed events with a panel of authors on stage. It is considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, described by literary magazine Kill Your Darlings (founded by writers Hannah Kent and Rebecca Starford) as "Arguably Australia’s most exciting and influential writers' festival".

A major event, it is a part of the Adelaide Festival and run by a dedicated Writers' Week director. Each Adelaide Writers' Week includes six days of free panel sessions presented live in the gardens. After each presentation, audience members are encouraged to ask questions, and lively debate sometimes ensues.

Each day starts with "Breakfast with Papers" in the West Tent, at 8am, sponsored by The Advertiser and hosted by journalists from Guardian Australia and the ABC. In 2024 this was hosted by Tory Shepherd of The Guardian and Jonathan Green of ABC Radio National.

For those who are unable to attend the event, all East Stage sessions are livestreamed in some libraries, community centres, schools, aged care communities, and retirement villages. In 2022, 111 locations were covered.

In conjunction with Writers, Week, Writers SA hosts workshops for Adelaide writers, with visiting authors as special guests to help provide guidance.

Media coverage and advertising of the event is widespread across major media outlets as well as social media, and was estimated to reach a cumulative audience of more than 116 million people in 2022.

As well as being good entertainment for patrons, the festival has become an increasingly important marketing venue for publishers as well as authors. Representatives from major publishers around the world attend the event. Authors sign their books at scheduled times outside the Book Tent, where books by all attending authors are on sale. In 2024 there are three stages: East, West, and North Stages (with shade cover for presenters and audience), as well as the Book Tent and the Torrens Tent. Beverages and food are on sale in a separate tent, and there is a block of many portaloos. Plastic chairs are provided for the audiences, and events are run at all stages throughout each day of the festival. The programme is published in hardcopy and online before the event

Sponsorship of the event has varied through the years. In 1990, the major sponsors were the Literature Board of the Australia Council and SGIC; in 2024, major partners were the Government of South Australia, Adelaide Economic Development Agency, City of Adelaide, 9News, University of Adelaide, ECH, and The Advertiser, with additional sponsorship by a number of commercial sponsors and cultural institutions.

Awards

MUD Literary Prize

Main article: MUD Literary Prize

The MUD Literary Prize has been awarded to an emerging talent for a debut novel at Writers' Week each year since 2018, and the MUD Literary Club, a philanthropic organisation dedicated to Australian literature, also sponsors an established author as well as an emerging author at the event each year.

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature

Main article: South Australian Literary Awards

The biennial Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature were created by the Government of South Australia in 1986, and awarded during Writers' Week. The State Library of South Australia (SLSA) took over administration of the awards from Arts South Australia in 2020, and ran the event for two years, during which they were run at 4pm on the last day of Writers' Week. Library director Geoff Strempel felt that the awards should be uncoupled from the event in order to give them greater prominence, in line with interstate equivalents, and so rebranded the awards the South Australian Literaray Awards, with the inaugural event taking place in October 2024.

Directors

In the early years, the role of director of Writers' Week had various titles: in 1990, Angela Dawes was "Writers' Week Coordinator" and in 2008 Rose Wight was "executive producer".

Directors of Writers' Week have included:

• Angela Dawes (1980s)
• Rose Wight (1992-2010)
• Laura Kroetsch (2012–2018)
• Jo Dyer (2019–2022)
• Louise Adler (2023–2026)

Featured writers by year

2024

The 2024 event took place from 2-7 March. Featured writers included Julia Baird, Alexis Wright, Christos Tsiolkas, Patrick deWitt, Robyn Davidson, Yanis Varoufakis, Nam Le, Bob Carr, Thomas Keneally, Trent Dalton, Richard Flanagan, Evelyn Araluen, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Ellen van Neerven, and many others.

2020

The 2020 event took place from 29 February to 5 March. It featured Chigozie Obioma, Sanam Maher, Tara June Winch, Christos Tsiolkas, John Boyne, Blanche d'Alpuget, Archie Roach, Jokha Alharthi, Anna Goldsworthy, Charlotte Wood, John Marsden, Megan Davis, Thomas Mayor, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Tim Costello, Tim Flannery, and many others.

2019

The event took place from 2–7 March. Australian authors included Trent Dalton (winner of the MUD Literary Prize International authors included Ben Okri, Kassem Eid, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Carl Zimmer, Mohammed Hanif, Nazanin Sahamizadeh, Ndaba Mandela and Marlene van Niekerk. J. M. Coetzee chaired the session with Van Niekerk.

2018

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2018 featured Mem Fox, Clive Hamilton, Barbara Kingsolver, Eva Hornung, Amal Awad and Jackie French.

2017

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2017 featured Caroline Baum, Paula Byrne, Richard Fidler, Emily Maguire, Melina Marchetta and Alejandro Zambra.

2016

Featured international and Australian authors at the 2016 Adelaide Writers' Week included Richard Dawkins, Fiona McFarlane, Drusilla Modjeska, Simon Winchester and Charlotte Wood.

2015

The 2015 Adelaide Writers' Week featured international and Australian authors including James Bradley, Helen Garner, Sofie Laguna, Kate Llewellyn, Susan Mitchell and Nicholas Shakespeare.

2014

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2014 featured international best-sellers and emerging writers, including Alexis Wright, Andy Griffiths, Margaret Drabble, Elizabeth Gilbert, Alexander McCall Smith, and Marcus Chown.

2013

2013 was the first annual Adelaide Writers' Week.

2012

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2012 took place 3–8 March, and saw a focus on younger readers, hosting the first Kid's Program, with children's laureate Boori Monty Pryor. The festival was dedicated to Margo Lanagan. An expanded non-fiction program was included, and writers included Javier Cercas, Kate Grenville, Les Murray, and Alan Hollinghurst.

2010

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2010 took place from 28 February to 5 March, and featured a collection of established overseas and Australian writers, including Richard Dawkins, Audrey Niffengger, William Dalrymple, and Robert Dessaix.

2008

2008's Writers' Week was held between 2 March and 7 March 2008 and was dedicated to Colin Thiele. It featured a number of prize-winning authors, including Ian McEwan, Peter Carey, Paul Auster, Geraldine Brooks, and Tim Parks. Other notable authors included Germaine Greer, British historian Richard Holmes, Sri Lanka native Roma Tearne, and author Siri Hustvedt. Australian authors included poet and novelist David Malouf, Robyn Davidson, Kate Llewellyn, Melina Marchetta, and actor and novelist William McInnes.

2006

2006's Writers' Week focused on Dutch and Indian writing and was held between 5 March and 10 March 2006. Notable visiting authors included Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham, crime novelists Val McDermid, Andrew Taylor and Minette Walters and Indian author Vikram Seth. Australian authors included historian professor Geoffrey Blainey and Adelaidean Peter Goldsworthy.

2005

In 2005, visiting authors included Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Rendell and Neal Stephenson.

2004

Authors included Ruth Rendell, Janette Turner Hospital, Clive James, Don Watson, Anne Enright, John Marsden and J. M. Coetzee.

1996

Writers' Week took place 3–8 March. Visiting authors included E. Annie Proulx, J. M. Coetzee, James Ellroy and Adrian Edmondson. Australian authors included Rodney Hall, Tim Flannery, Glenda Adams, Lily Brett, Kate Grenville, Marion Halligan, Gail Jones, singer Paul Kelly, and Tim Winton.

1982

Writers' Week took place 7–13 March. Featured writers included Neil Armfield, Thea Astley, Blanche d'Alpuget, Helen Garner, Peter Goldsworthy, David Hare, Jeri Kroll, Thomas Shapcott, Colin Thiele, Judith Wright and Fay Weldon.

Footnotes

References

References

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4. Goodall, Jane. (24 February 2023). "Free speech or 'genocide cheering'? {{sic". The Conversation.
5. [https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=AAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adelaidenow.com.au%2Fentertainment%2Fadelaide-festival%2Fwriters-week-director-disappointed-after-two-ukrainian-authors-pull-out%2Fnews-story%2F0b1e8c0e8aec52caa0a5491afbc497b1&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-high-test-score&V21spcbehaviour=append Adelaide Now] (subscription required)
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8. Story, Hannah (8 January 2026). [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-08/randa-abdel-fattah-adelaide-writers-week-axed-authors-withdraw/106210464 Authors withdraw from Adelaide Writers' Week after Randa Abdel-Fattah axed for 'cultural sensitivity'] ''[[ABC News (Australia). ABC News]]''. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
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