How the festival author saga has been brewing for years

HOW ADELAIDE WRITERS' WEEK COLLAPSED:

* February 2023 - Adelaide Writers' Week director Louise Adler faced pressure to withdraw invitations to two Palestinian writers, Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd, over their views on Ukraine and Israel

* February 2024 - American Jewish writer Thomas Friedman is invited but does not appear at festival - event cites scheduling clashes but others blame a pressure campaign from pro-Palestinian advocates over a New York Times column

* January 8, 2026 - Adelaide Festival dumps Dr Abdel-Fattah from the program for Adelaide Writers' Week, citing "cultural sensitivity" in the aftermath of the Bondi terrorist attack

* January 10 - A boycott reaches nearly 100 speakers in two days, including award-winning authors Trent Dalton and Helen Garner, economist Yanis Varoufakis and celebrated Jewish author M. Gessen

* January 11 - Dr Abdel-Fattah's lawyer threatens the festival board with legal action and seeks specific reasons why she was removed

* January 11 - Three Adelaide Festival board members and chair Tracey Whiting quit

* January 12 - South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and federal minister Madeleine King publicly back the decision to remove Dr Abdel-Fattah - speaker boycott exceeds 180

* January 13 - Adler resigns as writers' week director, saying she fought against the author's removal. Hours later, the festival event - without a director, a program and few speakers - is cancelled. Remaining board members quit or announce they will leave by February 2

* January 14 - Mr Malinauskas is threatened with defamation action by the dumped writer for allegedly suggesting she is a terrorist sympathiser - the premier says his remarks are founded in "compassion"

* January 15 - A new board for the Adelaide Festival unreservedly apologises to Dr Abdel-Fattah and invites her to the 2027 - she accepts both

* January 16 - British rock band Pulp reverse its decision to pull out of an Adelaide Festival performance after the apology