How a boardroom flare-up sparked an international boycott – and a looming defamation battle
It began as a quiet programming dispute in the genteel city of churches.
But by Wednesday morning, a frantic, six-day war of words had culminated in the end of the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week and total institutional collapse.
What started with the discreet exit of a business titan and arts board veteran spiralled into boardroom carnage last weekend, with mass resignations, lawyers’ letters of demands and allegations of racism and hypocrisy flung by all sides.
By the time the writers’ week director, Louise Adler, walked, the boycott of writers, commentators and academics had gone global and the state’s premier cultural event had become a hollowed-out shell.
