Adelaide Festival is in disarray after the board chair joined three board members in quitting after days of controversy over a Palestinian advocate being pulled from the Writers’ Week lineup.

Adelaide Festival board chair Tracey Whiting is understood to have informed the South Australian government of her decision on Sunday afternoon.

Whiting was appointed to the job by the Malinauskas government in 2023. She is a member of the Solstice Media board, was the former chair of the Art Gallery of South Australia and has been on the boards of the South Australian Museum, the National Museum of Australia and the Adelaide UNESCO City of Music.

Daniela Ritorto, Donny Walford and Nicholas Linke OAM have also quit their positions on the Adelaide Festival board, leaving only three board members and a government observer at the helm.

It is understood the trio resigned after a board meeting on Saturday afternoon. Their names were quietly removed from the Adelaide Festival Board webpage on Sunday.

An Adelaide Festival spokesperson has confirmed the list of board members on its website is current, but did not comment on the changes.

“I have decided to resign as chair of the Adelaide Festival board, effective immediately. Recent decisions were bound by certain undertakings, and my resignation enables the Adelaide Festival, as an organisation, to refresh its leadership and its approach to these circumstances,” Whiting said in a post on LinkedIn.

“My tenure as chair has been immensely enjoyable, as has working with the terrific AF team. I look forward to the future success of the Adelaide Festival.

I have no further comment.”

It comes after the board announced last Thursday it had removed Sydney-born author and Palestinian advocate Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the Adelaide Writers’ Week lineup because it would not be “culturally sensitive” to program her so soon after the Bondi mass shooting.

The high-profile literary festival, which runs from February 28-March 5, faces an uncertain future as 100 of 124 writers programmed have withdrawn in response to the board’s call.

A spokesperson for SA Arts Minister Andrea Michaels confirmed that Michaels had received resignations from Whiting and the three board members.

Daniela Ritorto is a public speaker and media consultant, and a former SBS journalist. She is married to federal Health Minister Mark Butler.

Donny Walford is managing director and founder of Behind Closed Doors, a leadership development company for women. She also chairs the SA Industry Skills Council, public safety and government – and has been a member of the ABC board.

Nicholas Linke is a lawyer who was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2025 for service to arts administration and law. He is also deputy chair of the Adelaide Central School of Art’s board of governors and holds other board positions.

Ritorto and Walford both declined to comment when contacted. Linke was also contacted for comment.

Whiting was still listed on the Adelaide Festival website on Sunday, along with remaining board members Leesa Chesser, Brenton Cox Adelaide City Council representative Mary Couros, and government observer Dr Jennifer Fuller.

The news comes as Abdel-Fattah’s lawyers wrote to Whiting requesting the board specifically identify why she had been dumped, requesting a written reply by January 14.

“Please ensure that your organisation and each individual member of the board retains all documents in their possession (including emails, text messages and content on disappearing messaging apps) that relate to the decision to exclude Dr Abdel-Fattah,” the lawyers’ letter.

She shared it to social media platform X.

“You are each now on notice that these documents may be required for the purposes of litigation,” the letter said.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has backed the board’s decision to remove Abdel-Fattah, repeating on Sunday that it should be consistent with the board removing a Jewish writer from the 2024 line-up.

The Jewish writer Thomas Friedman did not participate in the 2024 Adelaide Writers’ Week program due to “scheduling issues”, a letter revealed after Malinauskas said he had been “cancelled”.

On Sunday, Malinauskas maintained that though there was “a suggestion that was a scheduling issue”, Friedman’s absence was still relevant.

“Call it what you like, after the correspondence from Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, they removed the pro-Jewish Israeli speaker,” he said.

“Then fast forward two years, and I think it’s reasonable for the board to apply the same principle.”

State Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis weighed in on social media platform X, responding to a user who questioned why Malinauskas was “lying”.

“We will see who is saying things that aren’t accurate. Especially about rescheduling,” he wrote.

Note: Festival chair Tracey Whiting AM is also a director of Solstice Media, publisher of The New Daily

This story first appeared in InDaily