Headliners for the resurrection of the South Australian festival of words include Min Jin Lee, Dave Eggers, Caro Claire Burke and Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Kraus, alongside local names Trent Dalton, Meg Mason, Omar Musa, Magda Szubanski and Pip Williams. The 2027 theme is "What Does It Mean To Be Human?"
Milsom was hired after the event's implosion this year, condensing what would usually be a year-long planning window to just three months while she also ran the Newcastle Writers Festival, which she founded. She called it "a tight, crazy, hectic year", but said she had been free to program whomever she wanted and that the people of Adelaide had welcomed the festival's return.
In the wake of the collapse of Adelaide Writers' Week, and of the Bendigo Writers Festival before it, Milsom said audiences wanted to choose who they listened to and must be allowed to do so. "You can vehemently disagree with things that a writer says, you're entitled to," she said. "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."
Milsom argued literary festivals are a barometer for the health of democracy, and said freedom of speech was under pressure, including festivals worldwide being pressured for political reasons, books banned across the United States, and AI limiting diversity of voices and stealing writers' work. "You just have to hold your ground on certain principles," she said.
Abdel-Fattah was uninvited from this year's program in January, prompting dozens of writers to boycott, the resignation of director Louise Adler and most of the board of umbrella event Adelaide Festival, and ultimately the cancellation of Writers' Week. The South Australian government appointed a new board under chair Judy Potter and deputy Rob Brookman, who apologised to Abdel-Fattah and asked her to attend the 2027 event. Milsom re-extended the offer, and Abdel-Fattah accepted.
In a session moderated by Jan Fran, Abdel-Fattah, author of the novel Discipline, will discuss the role of fiction, particularly in contentious times, with Slimani. Milsom said both writers integrate larger geopolitical content into domestic settings.
Milsom pointed to record audiences this year at Sydney, Newcastle, Auckland, Edinburgh and Brisbane festivals as evidence of a craving for in-person connection. "There is an appetite for meaningful discussion," she said.
Adelaide Writers' Week runs from February 27 to March 4, 2027, with the full program announced in January.