The organisers of Adelaide’s fast-disappearing writing festival say they are committed to delivering a grammatically-correct event, rebranding the festival to reflect the number of authors now involved.
More than 180 writers have pulled out of the festival, following its absurd decision to cancel Palestinian-Australian writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, leaving a little-known author called Brian to carry the load.
A spokesperson for the festival said they were devastated that so many authors had pulled out. “It’s been a very tough few days for the festival board, considering the impact this has had on the grammatically accuracy of our name. It’s so important to get these things right,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that after a period of reflection, they had chosen to make the bold move of changing the name. “We realised that the apostrophe was doing a lot of heavy lifting, so we needed to change that. But we don’t see this as a scaling back. If anything, it’s a bold curatorial decision to really focus on one voice”.
The remaining author, Brian, who organisers confirmed had been upgraded from panellist to ‘entire program’, is now scheduled to appear in all 142 sessions across the week, sometimes simultaneously.
“He’ll be talking about a range of safe, pre-approved topics, often in conversation with himself. It’s going to be unchallenging, intellectually shallow, and full of uncontroversial ideas. We can’t wait!”
