Bestselling Irish novelist Sally Rooney has had all her works pulled from distribution in the United Kingdom, after the author openly declared her continued support for Palestine Action — the direct action pro-Palestinian group that Keir Starmer’s Labour government outlawed as a terrorist organisation in July 2025. Under current UK counter-terrorism law, any individual or entity that provides material support to a proscribed group can be charged with a terrorism offence, a development that has forced Rooney and her UK-based publisher Faber & Faber to take the unprecedented step of removing her books from the British market.
Rooney, whose works including *Normal People*, *Conversations With Friends*, and *Beautiful World* have topped UK bestseller lists and been adapted into hit BBC television series, confirmed the decision in a public statement Wednesday. She noted that while Palestine Action remains a legal, unproscribed organisation in her home country of the Republic of Ireland, she had publicly stated her intention to continue supporting the group with proceeds from her book sales — a move that would make continued distribution of her work in the UK a criminal violation for her publisher.
“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,” Rooney said. “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.” This is not the first time Rooney has altered her plans over her pro-Palestinian advocacy: she canceled a September 2024 trip to England to accept a major literary award over fears she would be arrested on charges linked to her support for the group.
Faber & Faber echoed Rooney’s statement, explaining that UK legislation leaves the press in an impossible position: current rules bar the publisher from passing any earnings from UK book sales to Rooney, given her stated support for the proscribed group. “To sell a writer’s work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher,” the publisher said. “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, the group at the center of the controversy, organizes non-violent direct action targeting companies that manufacture and supply weapons to Israel for use in the Gaza conflict. The Labour government’s proscription of the group criminalizes membership in or public support for Palestine Action, with violations carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. Since the ban went into effect, thousands of people across the UK have been arrested merely for displaying placards voicing support for the group, according to critics of the policy.
The ban has faced widespread condemnation from human rights groups, who have labeled it an overly draconian restriction on free speech. Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori is currently appealing the UK Court of Appeal’s ruling that upheld the ban’s legality, with the case set to be heard by the UK Supreme Court later this year. Even senior members of the ruling Labour government have acknowledged the unforeseen harms of the policy: Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said last month that the government is reviewing whether the ban was politically prudent, admitting that officials never intended the proscription to lead to mass arrests of peaceful activists.
“I don’t think anyone’s intent was to have those people criminalized, but obviously the Supreme Court has got to look at this issue, and obviously it’s something we keep looking at as government,” Miliband said.
Amnesty International UK chief executive Kerry Moscogiuri warned that the removal of Rooney’s books sets a dangerous precedent for political expression in the UK. “Whatever one’s views on Palestine Action, we should all be concerned when laws intended to combat terrorism end up silencing artistic freedom and the ability to engage in peaceful political dissent,” Moscogiuri told *The Guardian*. “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. Sally Rooney’s willingness to accept the personal consequences of her convictions deserves recognition. There is a real danger that others, seeing the price she has paid, will decide they cannot afford to speak out.”
Labour MP Ian Byrne, who voted against the proscription of Palestine Action, said the outcome for Rooney vindicates critics’ warnings about the ban’s authoritarian consequences. “When I voted against the proscription of Palestine Action, I and many others warned of the draconian consequences it would bring,” Byrne wrote on social platform X. “Since then, thousands have been arrested and criminalised simply for holding a sign. Now this injustice against one of the finest writers of her generation. An utterly disgraceful attack on freedom of expression. This ban must be overturned.”