20 January 2026
Statement from Writers SA
In response to City of Adelaide Council special meeting on 19 January 2026
Writers SA is working with a larger group of people from across the writing and reading community who are initiating events under the banner of Not Writers’ Week – Constellations. We are grateful for the Council’s resolution to engage with us around the proposed event/s and to make available, where possible, Council venues for activities to take place.
Writers SA would like to thank the Councillors who supported Councillor Snape’s motion yesterday evening and extend our thanks to all Council members for listening to our deputation and considering the motion.
As noted in the meeting yesterday, Writers SA is in conversation with Adelaide Festival about how they can appropriately support these activities outside the banner of Adelaide Festival.
Constellations is Not Writers’ Week (it’s in the name!) and it does not seek to replace Adelaide Writers’ Week.
It is an umbrella event that will allow writers, organisations, and literary community members who develop partnership programming to create a space for the writing and reading community to come together in the absence of Writers’ Week. It will ensure that we hold space for that community in the city of Adelaide and beyond.
This is not a Writers SA initiative, but instead a project that we have, in response to our writing and reading community, agreed to support and to auspice funds for if required.
Yesterday afternoon, I provided the Lord Mayor and Councillors with a document outlining the organisational process for Not Writers’ Week event/s. As this is a community-led initiative, Writers SA will provide some logistical support for events but cannot speak on behalf of the entire festival.
There will be an announcement launching the Constellations initiative shortly, which will invite wider participation from the community. We are pleased to be part of a group that is creating an umbrella under which diverse organisations, including bookshops, schools, and libraries, can participate.
Writers SA will continue to work with the diverse group of individuals, which includes writers, publishers, and booksellers, who have initiated this response to the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week and to engage with the Council, Adelaide Festival, and others to take Constellations forward.
