Publishers Pull Russell Brand's Books After Conviction
Pan Macmillan and Hodder & Stoughton have withdrawn Russell Brand's books from sale after he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault. Both publishers confirmed the decision on 6 November 2026, the day after a London jury's verdict was reported.
Brand, 51, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women. He was cleared of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The trial concerned allegations against six women between 1999 and 2009, which Brand denied. The Metropolitan Police said he remains under investigation over two further rape allegations.
Withdrawing a book means the publisher stops selling it and, in most cases, asks shops to send back unsold copies. Pan Macmillan said it is withdrawing two titles: Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions, published in 2017, and Mentors: How to Help and Be Helped, published in 2019. It also said it holds no stock of either, because neither has been reprinted, a term for printing a book again, due to lack of demand.
Hodder & Stoughton confirmed it has withdrawn his books too. Its best-known title is My Booky Wook, the 2007 memoir that was the Christmas No 1 bestseller that year, meaning it sold more copies than any other book in the festive season.
Other publishers have taken different routes. HarperCollins published the follow-up, Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal, in 2010, and the book no longer appears on the publisher's website. Canongate said The Pied Piper of Hamelin has been out of print, meaning no new copies are being published, since September 2023. It is also unavailable as an ebook or audiobook. Century, an imprint, or branded label, of Penguin Random House, said Revolution, Brand's 2014 political book, is out of print.
Waterstones, the largest bookshop chain in the UK, said it had removed Brand's titles from its website once publishers confirmed the withdrawals. Copies still on its shelves will be returned to the publisher.
Not every title has disappeared. His most recent book, How to Become a Christian in Seven Days, came out in May through Tucker Carlson Books, an imprint set up with the US publisher Skyhorse. It remains available to buy.
For readers who want to know where a book stands, the trade uses a simple set of signals: out of print means the publisher has stopped making it, withdrawn means it has been pulled from sale, and still available means a shop or website will sell it. Brand's back catalogue now spans all three.
