Randa Abdel-Fattah

Randa Abdel-Fattah (; born 6 June 1979) is an Australian sociologist, lawyer and writer. She is an advocate for human rights, particularly for Palestinian people. Much of her work focuses on identity and what it means to be Muslim in Australia. Her debut novel, Does My Head Look Big in This?, was published in 2005. Her 2025 novel, Discipline, came to public attention after Abdel-Fattah was disinvited from the 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week, leading to a boycott by most of the scheduled participants and the subsequent cancellation of the event.

Early life and education Randa Abdel-Fattah was born on 6 June 1979 in Sydney, New South Wales, to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. Although often referred to as Palestinian Australian, Abdel-Fattah has said "I don't think I ever identified as or even felt 'Palestinian in Australia' Sometimes I felt a hybrid of Australian and Palestinian. Sometimes I felt neither Australian nor Palestinian, tired of identity politics [...] As for my cultural consciousness, my mother is Egyptian and I grew up among her family in Australia and probably absorbed more Egyptian culture as a child." In an essay on Mondoweiss in January 2026, she described herself as a Palestinian.

She grew up in Melbourne, Victoria, and attended a Catholic primary school and then King Khalid Islamic College. During this time, she was the media liaison at the Islamic Council of Victoria, writing about Muslims in Australia.

Career Law Abdel-Fattah worked as a solicitor for various firms, including Slater & Gordon (2001–2003), Lander & Rogers (2003–2006), Thompson Playford Lawyers (2006–2009) and Hicksons Lawyers (2009–2012).

Writing and research In 2018, Abdel-Fattah received two research fundings from the Australian Research Council in the form of their Discovery Early Career Research Award, for studying the sociological conditions of modern Muslim and non-Muslim youth. Her three-year project was based at Macquarie University with Amanda Wise as her collaborator. Her findings were published by NewSouth Publishing in 2021 as Coming of Age in the War on Terror, and as a paper in the Journal of Sociology in 2024.

Abdel-Fattah has published research articles in the Journal of Sociology, the Sociological Research Online, and the Journal of Intercultural Studies.

She has written books for children and young adults. She created a series aimed at early readers, called Our Stories, of books written and illustrated by diverse authors and illustrators. Her research inspired another project for young children, leading to Australia's first Black-Palestinian picture book collaboration, 11 Words For Love (2023).

She has written articles for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Guardian, Overland, Meanjin, Al Jazeera English, Le Monde, New Matilda, and The New Arab. She no longer discusses the hijab, on the basis that it constitutes flogging a dead horse and detracts from the discussion of other issues.

In 2022, the Australian Research Council (ARC) granted Abdel-Fattah their Future Fellowship on a research project titled "Arab/Muslim Australian Social Movements since the 1970s: A hidden history". Abdel-Fattah is the primary chief investigator, contracted to work on the project from 2023 to 2027.

During the Gaza War starting in 2023, she has been a vocal critic of the Israeli government, accusing it of committing a "Palestinian holocaust" in Gaza. At an academic symposium organised by the Queensland University of Technology's Carumba Institute, Abdel-Fattah spoke of how, instead of organising an academic conference as mandated by her ARC grants, she used the funds to run a workshop for women from multicultural backgrounds. Because of the fund diversion remarks, the education minister, Jason Clare, wrote to the ARC board on 31 January 2025 asking it to investigate Abdel-Fattah. On 27 February, the ARC announced that the Abdel-Fattah's grant was suspended and that it was the responsibility of Macquarie University to resolve the issue and, if the grant had been misused, to refund the entire amount. After a 10-month investigation led by two independent academics, the university announced on 23 December 2025 that "there is no basis for any further investigation of the concerns raised by the ARC." The ARC restored the funding.

Abdel-Fattah's social media post from March 2024 which stated that Zionists "have no claim or right to cultural safety" was widely reported and used against her. In an essay on Mondoweiss in January 2026, she wrote of her "fight against Zionism" and restated that Zionists, as she understands the term, are not entitled to claim the right to a culturally safe space.

2026 Adelaide Writers' Week

On 8 January 2026, the Adelaide Festival board announced that Abdel-Fattah's scheduled appearance at Adelaide Writers' Week in February to March 2026 had been cancelled due to concerns over "cultural sensitivity" following the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting. There was a backlash from writers and the public to the decision, with most of the participants announcing a boycott of the event. Due to the controversy, Louise Adler, the director of Adelaide Writer's Week who had scheduled her appearance, resigned from her position, The new board also invited her to the 2027 edition of the event.

Newcastle Writers' Festival 2026 Abdel-Fattah appeared at Newcastle Writers' Festival in Newcastle, New South Wales, in March 2026, with two sessions sold out and a third added owing to demand, despite NSW Premier Chris Minns previously opining that her inclusion was "crazy."

Awards

Other roles and activities Abdel-Fattah is a human rights advocate and stood at the 1998 federal election as a member of the Unity Party (with the slogan "Say No to Pauline Hanson"). She has also been interested in interfaith dialogue and has been a member of various interfaith networks. She has volunteered time with human rights and migrant resource organisations, including the Australian Arabic Council, the Victorian Migrant Resource Centre, the Islamic Women's Welfare Council, and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

She is an observant Muslim. Arab Australian Other: Stories on Race and Identity, co-editor with Sara Saleh (2019) Coming of Age in the War on Terror (2021) Maku (children's fiction, co-authored with Meyne Wyatt, 2022) 11 Words for Love (illustrated by Maxine Beneba Clarke, 2022) Discipline (2025)