“Another literary festival, another cancellation”. These are the words of Australian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, after Cambridge University’s Newnham College Literary Festival cancelled her planned appearance to discuss her new book.

Cancelled by the Cambridge Literary Festival

Abdel-Fattah was scheduled to appear at the Cambridge Literary Festival to discuss her new novel, Discipline. The “blistering and brilliant” book “confronts uncomfortable realities of what’s at stake when we speak truth to power”. And the Israel lobby doesn’t like it – or Abdel-Fattah.

Abdel-Fattah, already cancelled in January 2026 by the Adelaide Writers’ Festival, has been a steadfast supporter of the Palestinian people, writing that she is “betting on” “unbreakable” Gaza. This was enough to prompt the Israel-fanatic, Jewish Chronice to write to the college about her appearance – which suddenly withdrew from the event, forcing its cancellation. In an Instagram post, she writes:

I was due to appear in a session at the Cambridge Literary Festival to discuss my new novel Discipline on 8 October 2026. The event was to be held at Newnham College. The Jewish Chronicle approached the festival. The venue became unavailable. My session has now been cancelled.

I hope the Festival will choose principle over posturing and follow through with my session at an alternative venue. There has never been a more important time for arts institutions to push back against these targeted campaigns that aim to silence our voices from public life.

In graphics accompanying her statement, she accuses the Jewish Chronicle of using “cherry-picked, decontextualised half-quotes by me” in a “bad-faith, censorious agenda” to frighten the venue. Defiantly, she goes on:

One of the quotes was from 26 December 2024. It was a selected portion of a tweet and conveniently failed to mention that I was quote­-tweeting a report of 3 newborn Palestinian babies who had frozen to death as a direct result of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and 5 Palestinian journalists, one of them waiting at the hospital as his wife went into labor with their first child, being deliberately targeted and burnt to death in an Israeli airstrike.

I explain this not as a defence, but to demonstrate how Palestinians’ righteous anger at injustice is deliberately racialized as primordially hateful, angry, vengeful. I did not reply to the email. I will not justify the words I use as a Palestinian responding in real-time to the genocide of my people, not least to those who support my people’s genocide. I wrote a novel called Discipline. Do they think I will allow myself to be disciplined by them?

And she says that when the paper went ahead with its article, it outed the festival, showing that it capitulated directly, but used ‘operational issues’ to excuse it:

The Jewish Chronicle published its article, recycling the same propaganda I’m accustomed to in Australian mainstream media and pro-Israel media outlets. That article reports that the festival “promoted on its website a “powerful and unmissable” hour with Randa Abdel-Fattah as she discusses her new novel, Discipline, despite her history of extreme remarks.” The article then says: “At the time of publication the festival had removed the web page advertising the event, but had not made any comment.”

The article has since been updated to state: “The Cambridge Literary Festival contacted the JC after this article had been published. They said: “The event was cancelled on Friday due to operational issues and is no tonger going ahead. It was due to be a standalone event, and she was not headlining the festival, which takes place in November.””

She concludes that the Israel lobby needs silence to facilitate its crimes – and that it is more important than ever for institutions to refuse to cooperate or capitulate:

I note that the Cambridge Literary Festival is programming a session titled ‘Truth, Courage and Fiction’ as part of its upcoming winter programme. I hope that ‘truth and courage’ are not simply another form of performative grandstanding. I hope the Festival will choose principle over posturing and follow through with my session at an alternative venue. There has never been a more important time for arts institutions to push back against these targeted campaigns that aim to silence our voices from public life.

I always reiterate (given this is not my first rodeo) that this is not about me as an individual. I don’t take these attacks personally because the playbook is clear. The pro-Israel lobby seeks to silence us in the West to enable Israel’s genocide, apartheid and settler colonial project in Palestine. The question is will arts institutions allow themselves to be a party to this?

Cambridge, already at the centre of the scandal of the racist-driven death of Professor Jason Arday, is not living up to that duty.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

From Canary via This RSS Feed.