Sally Rooney's publisher Faber has determined it can no longer supply her work within the UK, after her support for the proscribed protest group Palestine Action made fulfilment of her publishing contracts a potential criminal offence.
The Irish author, 35, known for bestselling novels including Normal People and Conversations With Friends, said in a statement that the ban on Palestine Action, which came into force in July last year, made membership of or support for the direct-action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Publisher halts UK supply
Rooney said she had previously expressed her intention to continue supporting Palestine Action, which is not a proscribed or otherwise prohibited group in the Republic of Ireland. As a result, she said, the fulfilment of contracts to publish her work in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offence.
“After a process of consultation and deliberation, and with my full agreement, my publisher Faber has therefore determined that it can no longer supply my work within the UK,” Rooney said. “I have made every effort to be honest with the public about my beliefs and intentions, and I am wholly prepared to accept the consequences.”
Rooney had previously said she would donate earnings from her books and BBC adaptations of her novels to Palestine Action, which has a goal of “ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.
Arrests and free speech concerns
In September 2025, Rooney cancelled a trip to London to accept the Sky Arts Award for literature over concerns she could be arrested if she entered the country. Supporters of Palestine Action have staged regular protests in defiance of the ban, leading to hundreds of arrests under terrorist legislation.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said Rooney being unable to publish her work in the UK “marks a new low in the escalating assault on free speech caused by the proscription of Palestine Action”. Ammori added that a world-renowned author fearing arrest and being forced to remove her books from bookstores “exposes the chilling consequences of this authoritarian law, which has been used to make over 3,700 arrests for simply holding seven word signs”.
Political reaction
Ammori criticised Andy Burnham’s Government for “choosing to defend” the ban on Palestine Action rather than using its power to overturn it. She praised Rooney for taking “a brave and principled stand from the moment plans to ban Palestine Action were announced”.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said in a statement: “A couple of weeks ago, Labour said they’d got it wrong on Gaza. Now they have banned books by Sally Rooney, one of the most celebrated and influential authors of recent times. Labour’s authoritarian and ludicrous law has turned the country into a laughing stock around the world and the proscription on Palestine Action must be overturned now.”
