“Normal People” and “Conversations with Friends” author Sally Rooney said Wednesday that her work will no longer be stocked in U.K. bookstores due to her support for the group known as Palestine Action.
“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,” Rooney told BBC News.
Rooney told the BBC that any further publication of her work in the U.K. would be considered a “serious criminal offense,” leading her to agree with Faber, her publisher, to stop distributing her books to stores there. The publication noted that Rooney’s ebooks have already been removed from U.K. services, while existing stock remains in bookstores.
“Current legislation in the U.K. has led to circumstances where Faber cannot pass on U.K. earnings to Sally Rooney for her work,” the publisher told BBC. “To sell a writer’s work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher. As such, and in full agreement with Sally, we have taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the U.K. in any format.”
Rooney, a vocal supporter of Palestine and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, expressed support for the direct action network Palestine Action when the U.K. government considered designating it a terrorist organization. The group was subsequently proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000.
After the U.K. government proscribed Palestine Action in 2025, Rooney pledged to donate proceeds from her books to the group. Despite winning the 2025 Sky Arts Award for literature for her book “Intermezzo,” she canceled her trip to England to accept the award, citing fears of arrest.
Rooney’s “Normal People” was adapted into a critically acclaimed series starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones in 2020. The series received four Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special for Rooney and Alice Birch and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Mescal.
Representatives for Rooney and Faber did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
