Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images
Awful news for Normal People devotees: Sally Rooney’s publisher says it can no longer sell her books in the U.K. because of her support for Palestine. Per the Guardian, the critically acclaimed author announced on Wednesday that she is no longer able to publish work in the U.K. because she’s financially supported Palestine Action, a protest group that the British government designated a terrorist organization last year.
“In July 2025, the direct-action protest group Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK,” Rooney said in a statement to the outlet. “The following month, I wrote an opinion piece expressing my intention to go on supporting Palestine Action, which is not a proscribed or otherwise prohibited group here in the Republic of Ireland.”
“As a result, the fulfilment of contracts to publish my work in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offence,” she went on. “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.”
Last year, Palestine Action was banned by the U.K. Parliament after the group’s members broke into a British military air base and damaged two planes as part of its ongoing protest of Britain’s support of Israeli occupation in Gaza. The British government invoked the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows its members to ban a group if they believe it is “concerned with terrorism.” In February, the British High Court ruled that Parliament had stretched the limits of what constitutes a terrorist organization and deemed the Palestine Action ban “unlawful,” but kept the law in place pending a separate appeal.
Rooney, who refused to sell the translation rights for Beautiful World, Where Are You to an Israeli publishing house in 2022, made it clear following the ban that she planned to continue supporting Palestine Action. She wrote in the Irish Times that she would still donate proceeds from her book sales to the organization. Because financially supporting a group listed under the Terrorism Act is a punishable offense with a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, Rooney canceled a September 2025 trip to the U.K. for an awards ceremony out of fear she might be arrested. In November, she appeared before the High Court to challenge the ban, predicting that “if Palestine Action is still proscribed by the time my next book is due for publication, then that book will be available to readers all over the world and in dozens of languages, but will be unavailable to readers in the United Kingdom simply because no one will be permitted to publish it.”
Faber, however, is putting its full support behind Rooney. “To sell a writer’s work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher,” the company said in a statement. “As such … we have taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the UK in any format.” Faber will remain Rooney’s international publisher and will continue to sell her books in other territories. Sounds like a good time to visit your neighborhood indie bookstore and buy out all its Rooney back stock.
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