British booksellers are have been left scrambling after Irish novelist Sally Rooney said her books can no longer be sold in the UK because she financially supports the banned group Palestine Action. The announcement by Rooney’s British publisher that it will no longer distribute her books has reignited debate over the UK government’s decision last year to outlaw the direct-action protest group as a terrorist organisation. The ban makes membership in – or, crucially, support for – Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Rooney, 35, is the critically praised author of four novels: “Conversations with Friends”, “Normal People”, “Beautiful World, Where are You” and “Intermezzo”. Her books have sold millions of copies, and both “Conversations with Friends” and “Normal People” were adapted for television by the BBC. She supports the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which calls for boycotts of Israeli businesses, universities and cultural institutions over Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Read moreWhat is Palestine Action, the protest movement banned under UK terror act? After the UK banned Palestine Action in July 2025, Rooney said she would use proceeds from her books and their TV adaptations to support the group. On Wednesday her UK publisher, Faber, said that paying her royalties could violate the terror ban and it had “taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the UK in any format”.
"To sell a writer's work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher," Faber said in a statement. The publisher stressed the decision had been made with Rooney's agreement. Faber’s announcement left British bookstores scrambling to understand whether they were breaking the law by selling Rooney’s books.
The Booksellers Association later said it had “confirmed with Faber that whilst those titles are no longer available to UK bookshops to order, they can continue to sell their existing stock within the UK market”. Some stores rushed to stock up on Rooney’s novels, but found distributors had already run out. But now it seems like what we have is all we’re going to have.” Burke described the situation as “absolutely ridiculous” and said it amounted to censorship of “one of our most prominent writers”.
Sally Rooney's books are displayed for sale at a bookshop in London, Thursday, October 15, 2026. © Kin Cheung, AP Palestine Action, founded in 2020, aims to stop UK military support for Israel, which it says is committing genocide against the Palestinians – a claim Israel strongly denies. An independent UN committee found in September 2025 that Israel was carrying out a genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip. The group says it aims to stop genocide by disrupting “corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex".
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