Rosemarie Milsom was hired to run Adelaide Writers’ Week after its implosion this year, condensing what would usually be a year-long planning window to just three months. At the same time, she was running the Newcastle Writers Festival, which made for “a tight, crazy, hectic year”.
As she reveals the Writers’ Week line-up for next year, Milsom says she has been free to program whomever she wants and that the people of Adelaide have welcomed the return of the much-loved event.
Big international names heading to the South Australian festival of words include Min Jin Lee, Dave Eggers, Caro Claire Burke and Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Kraus, plus local headliners Trent Dalton, Meg Mason, Omar Musa, Magda Szubanski and Pip Williams.
In the wake of the implosion of Adelaide Writers Week, and Bendigo Writers Festival before that, Milsom says people want to choose who they listen to at such events – and must be allowed to do so. “You can vehemently disagree with things that a writer says, you’re entitled to. And as long as what they’ve said doesn’t breach the law and breach legislation, you can also support that writer’s capacity to speak at a festival about their book,” she says.
“You can hold those two things, you can. I know in this day and age that’s challenging for people ... but the principle is to support freedom of expression – you have to. If that is eroded, you don’t have much to stand on as an arts organisation.”
To Milsom’s mind, the arts and more specifically literary festivals are a barometer for the health of democracy. “So the more pressure we’re under, the more pressure democracy is under. I really do believe that.”
She refers to a multitude of pressures on freedom of speech, including festivals around the world being pressured for political reasons, as well as books being banned across the United States and AI limiting diversity of voices and stealing writers’ work.
“We’re feeling the pressure, definitely other literature festivals are feeling it around the world in various degrees and I think we can all acknowledge that democracy is under pressure. And so you just have to hold your ground on certain principles.”
Having run the Newcastle Writers Festival, which she founded, for an impressive 13 years, Milsom had stared down pressure to drop Palestinian-Australian writer and academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from her line-up this year.
When Abdel-Fattah was uninvited from the Adelaide Writers’ Week program in January, the impact was seismic: dozens of writers boycotted the event, director Louise Adler resigned, most of the board of umbrella event Adelaide Festival resigned and, ultimately, Writers’ Week was cancelled altogether. The South Australian government appointed a new board, headed by chair Judy Potter and deputy Rob Brookman, who promptly apologised to Abdel-Fattah and asked her to attend the 2027 event.
Even so, there was no guarantee that she would say yes, but when Milsom re-extended the offer, Abdel-Fattah accepted. In a session moderated by Jan Fran, the Discipline author will be in conversation with Moroccan-French journalist/novelist Leïla Slimani, talking about the role of fiction, particularly in contentious times.
“Even though it’s set in Sydney, the backdrop to Randa’s book is the previous attacks on Gaza [prior to Hamas’ attacks of October 7, 2023 and Israel’s retaliation].
“So there’s a geopolitical underpinning there, and that’s the same with Leïla and her trilogy, which is quite extraordinary,” Milsom says. “They both are able to integrate that bigger geo-political content in a domestic setting and it becomes very intimate.”
That’s part of the joy of programming an event such as this, says Milsom. “As a curator, you look for synergies with writers in a way that makes sense ... it’s really important to pair people, that’s what you’re always doing. It’s kind of like matchmaking, that’s the art, especially with fiction writers.”
The 2027 theme is What Does It Mean To Be Human? Our digital lives have permitted a kind of dehumanisation, Milsom argues, which has led to a craving for in-person connection.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that significant festivals this year had record audiences – Sydney, Newcastle, Auckland, Edinburgh and Brisbane a couple of weeks ago,” she says. “People want to get together and sit in person side by side. There is an appetite for meaningful discussion.”
Adelaide Writers’ Week runs from February 27 to March 4, 2027. The full program will be announced in January.
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