Why Sally Rooney's Books Are No Longer on Sale in the UK

Sally Rooney says she can no longer sell her books in the United Kingdom or receive royalties from UK sales because of her public support for Palestine Action. The Guardian Her publisher Faber, in full agreement with Rooney, will no longer supply her works in the UK in any format. Faber said current UK legislation means it cannot pass on UK earnings to Rooney. Sales will continue in territories outside the UK.

Rooney is an Irish novelist. In an opinion piece in August 2025, she said she intended to keep supporting Palestine Action and to use royalties from her work to do so. Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group, was proscribed, meaning officially listed as a terrorist organisation, in the UK in July 2025. Rooney notes the group is not proscribed or otherwise prohibited in the Republic of Ireland.

She was later advised that any payment to her for the television dramatisations of her books, both broadcast before the ban, would breach terrorism laws if the payer knew or suspected she would use royalties to fund Palestine Action. The question turns on Section 15 of the UK Terrorism Act. It makes it an offence to provide money or property while knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect it may be used for terrorism. The maximum sentence is 14 years in prison. Rooney and Faber cite that test, knowledge or reasonable cause to suspect future use, as blocking the ordinary publisher to author payment chain. No UK format is exempt.

Rooney had warned of this outcome in a High Court statement in support of the legal challenge to the proscription, saying her books could disappear from UK stores. She also cancelled a trip to the UK to collect an award over fear of arrest related to her support. She previously described the proscription as an 'extreme assault' on rights and freedoms and said she was 'immensely heartened' in relation to Palestine Action. The Guardian More than 3,700 people have been arrested in the UK for alleged support of Palestine Action since the ban in July 2025.

Normal People has sold more than 1 million copies, while Conversations With Friends and Beautiful World, Where Are You have each sold more than 500,000 copies. The BBC adapted Normal People and Conversations With Friends for television. Its Normal People adaptation recorded 62.7 million views and was the broadcaster's most-streamed series of 2020.

The broader context here is how proscription affects third parties far beyond activists. For publishers, booksellers and broadcasters, the question is not endorsement of a view. It is whether a routine royalty payment creates criminal risk once an author has publicly linked future income to a proscribed group. For authors, the Irish dimension complicates enforcement. Conduct lawful in Dublin can trigger liability in London. How courts handle the pending challenge to the proscription will determine whether this withdrawal is temporary or becomes a template.