'Disgraceful': Pro-Palestinian Author Sally Rooney Barred From Selling Books in UK

News out of the British book publishing world encapsulated the UK government's priorities when it comes to Israel and Palestine, one protest group suggested Wednesday.

"We got a Sally Rooney book ban before a single arrest of the more than 2,000 Britons who have participated in Israel’s genocide and now walk our streets," said Defend Our Juries after Irish author Sally Rooney announced she would no longer be able to sell her books in the United Kingdom because of her support for the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action.

In July 2025, the group was proscribed as a terrorist organization under the Terrorism Act of 2000, with lawmakers voting to ban Palestine Action after some of its members vandalized two military planes at a Royal Air Force base. The UK has provided military and political support to Israel as it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack.

Under Section 15 of the Terrorism Act, it is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison for a person or group to provide funds to Palestine Action.

Rooney, author of novels including Normal People, Conversations With Friends, and Intermezzo, said Wednesday that her publisher, Faber, would not continue to sell her books in the UK because of an opinion she wrote a month after Palestine Action's proscription, saying she planned to continue supporting the group, which is not labeled a terrorist organization in Ireland, and would donate proceeds from her book sales to it.

“As a result, the fulfillment of contracts to publish my work in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offense," Rooney said in a statement to The Guardian. "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. 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.”

Faber explained that should it continue to sell Rooney's popular and acclaimed novels in the UK, it would not be able to pass the author's royalties on to her due to her statements about backing the nonviolent group, which has called on the British government to end its support for Israel. Numerous human rights groups and Holocaust scholars have said Israel's bombardment of Gaza and its blocking of humanitarian aid, which have continued despite a ceasefire deal signed one year ago, constitutes a genocide.

"To sell a writer’s work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher," said Faber 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 UK 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's proscription has led to the arrests of about 3,700 people in the UK—most for simply holding signs that say, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

The arrests of nonviolent protesters—many of whom have been senior citizens—have been widely condemned around the world, and Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said the new outgrowth of the proscription on Wednesday was "a new low in the escalating assault on free speech."

Rooney, Ammori told The Guardian, "took a brave and principled stand from the moment plans to ban Palestine Action were announced. She has refused to compromise her convictions, even at considerable personal and professional cost. Her work should be celebrated and widely available, not driven off the shelves of British bookshops because she refuses to be complicit in the suppression of solidarity with the Palestinian people."

"No author should have to choose between their principles and their freedom to publish," she said.

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the banning of Rooney's books "disgraceful and embarrassing for the British government."

Kerry Moscogiuri, the chief executive of Amnesty International UK, told The Guardian that with Rooney pushed into removing her books from stores across Britain, "there is a real danger that others, seeing the price she has paid, will decide they cannot afford to speak out.”

“Writers should not find their books disappearing from shelves because of their political beliefs. Nor should people have to choose between expressing their conscience and pursuing their livelihoods," said Moscogiuri. “Sally Rooney’s willingness to accept the personal consequences of her convictions deserves recognition."

The hip-hop trio Kneecap, from Northern Ireland, expressed solidarity with Rooney, while Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, who represents the progressive Your Party, said the removal of her books was "more proof of the complete absurdity of the proscription of Palestine Action."

"What a stain on this government that people in this country are unable to buy and enjoy the work of one of this generation’s greatest writing talents," he said. "De-proscribe Palestine Action now."

A legal challenge against the group's proscription will be heard by the UK Supreme Court next month.