Rosemarie Milsom Appointed Adelaide Writers' Week Director
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- Rosemarie Milsom has been appointed the new director of Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW), a role she accepted after the festival's January 2026 collapse.
- AWW's implosion began when the Adelaide Festival board disinvited Randa Abdel-Fattah, prompting a boycott by 200-plus writers, the resignation of director Louise Adler, and the resignation of the entire board.
- Newcastle Writers' Festival, directed by Milsom, also booked Abdel-Fattah five months earlier and survived a separate political attack: NSW Liberal MP Aileen MacDonald questioned its $245,000 in state funding, and Premier Chris Minns called the festival 'crazy' and 'divisive.'
- Newcastle recorded a 27% attendance increase over 2025 with no protests or boycotts, despite the political pressure, and Milsom credits her journalism background for helping her resist calls to disinvite the author.
- Abdel-Fattah is the only writer currently invited to AWW 2027, offered by the new board as an apology; Milsom says she is yet to accept the invitation.
- Milsom criticised arts organisations including Creative Australia and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for excluding artists over Israel-Palestine views, saying they 'keep making the same mistake' by trying to appease one group.
- SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has been issued two concerns notices by lawyers for Abdel-Fattah over a potential defamation case; Milsom says she 'looks forward to meeting the premier.'
Why it matters: Milsom's appointment directly repudiates the disinvitation model that destroyed AWW in January: she kept Abdel-Fattah on the Newcastle program through political pressure and saw record 27% attendance growth, and the first author invited to AWW 2027 is Abdel-Fattah herself, sent by the new board as an apology. If Milsom's approach holds, the festival is effectively testing whether defending curatorial independence draws larger crowds — not boycotts.
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