Sally Rooney says support for Palestine Action means her books sales are blocked in UK
The Hill · C · trust 69/100
Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 10/14/26 6:32 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 10/14/26 6:32 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Irish novelist Sally Rooney said her support for Palestine Action, an organization banned by the British government, means she is blocked from selling her books in the United Kingdom.
Rooney, the author of “Normal People” and “Intermezzo,” told The Guardian on Wednesday that after the British government proscribed the protest group as a terrorist organization in July 2025, she expressed her intent to back Palestine Action because it “is not a proscribed or otherwise prohibited group here in the Republic of Ireland.”
“As a result, the fulfilment of contracts to publish my work in the U.K. could now constitute a serious criminal offence,” she told the outlet in a statement. “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 U.K.”
“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 concluded.
Faber confirmed that it cannot pass on earnings from Rooney’s work in the U.K. to the author.
“To sell a writer’s work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher,” the company said in a statement . “As such, and in full agreement with Sally, we have taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the U.K. in any format. We remain the proud publisher of her remarkable body of work, which we will continue to sell in other territories.”
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, who has legally challenged the ban, wrote on the social platform X that Rooney “refused to withdraw her support for the direct action group which targeted the Israeli arms industry, costing her the royalties from all of her UK sales.”
The author added her name to a high court statement in support of a legal challenge to proscription that warned of the law’s impact on freedom of expression, according to the outlet. She said in the statement that customers could see her books disappear from store shelves in the U.K. and that future releases could be blocked from being sold.
The Guardian estimates that more than 3,700 people have been arrested in the U.K. for their alleged support for Palestine Action, most of them for holding signs that read, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,” while around 2,500 people have been charged.
None of these people have been tried amid a legal challenge to the ban that is ongoing, expected to go before the British Supreme Court next month. Proscription made it a crime to support or be a member of Palestine Action, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action formed in 2020 and has carried out direct action protests in the U.K., including a break-in at a facility owned by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK in August 2024.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Palestine Action in August and accused it of having “supported numerous acts of terrorism” and “promoted its violent, criminal, and terrorist acts on social media.”
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