UK publisher suspends Sally Rooney titles due to anti-terrorism legislation
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Faber & Faber will stop selling Sally Rooney's books in the United Kingdom after legal advice indicated that paying her royalties could breach the Terrorism Act, which proscribes the group Palestine Action.
Faber & Faber announced it will no longer publish the works of Irish novelist Sally Rooney in the United Kingdom. The decision follows legal advice that forwarding royalty payments to Rooney, who has pledged to donate them to the U.K.-based activist group Palestine Action, could breach the Terrorism Act 2000. The act makes it an offence to provide money to an organization that is suspected of being used for terrorism, and Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization in July 2025.
Rooney, whose novels such as Normal People and Conversations With Friends account for roughly 10 percent of Faber’s revenue, said the move was intended to highlight what she and the publisher consider an overreach of the law. Both parties issued joint statements describing the suspension as a legal precaution.
Palestine Action, founded in 2020, has been involved in break-ins and property damage at facilities linked to Israeli weapons manufacturers. The U.K. government’s proscription has led to numerous arrests of protesters, many of whom were only displaying banners.
The publisher will continue to distribute Rooney’s books in Ireland, Commonwealth markets, the United States and other territories, but the U.K. market will be excluded until the legal situation changes.
The case is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court later this year after lower-court rulings upheld the proscription.
“Labour’s initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt. We got it wrong and I am sorry for that,” Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a recent statement.
If the Supreme Court rules in favour of overturning the ban on Palestine Action, the publisher may resume sales in the United Kingdom.