Sally Rooney: What really happened with her books being banned in the UK is more absurd than you think.

Once UK bookstores run out of their current stocks of novels by Sally Rooney, one of this century’s most loved and celebrated authors (Normal people, Conversations with friends), there will be no more. On Wednesday, news broke that Faber & Faber, Rooney’s UK publisher, will no longer publish the Irish novelist’s books in the UK market because they are unable to pass on royalties from those book sales to Rooney without breaking anti-terrorism laws.

Sounds crazy, right? How did we get here? What is the connection between book sales and terrorism? Let’s delve into one of the most delicate and sinister absurdities the British government has plunged us into in recent years.

So sorry, Sally Rooney funds terrorism?

If you ask the British government, yes. In August 2025, she pledged to donate royalties from her books and other creative projects to a UK-based group called Palestine Action, whose stated aim is to “end global complicity with Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime”. There is a section in the UK Terrorism Act 2000 which makes it an offense punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment if someone, or a company, “provides money or other property and knows or has reasonable grounds to suspect that such property will or may be used for terrorist purposes”. Ergo, if Faber pays these royalties to Rooney and gives them to Palestine Action, this would be considered funding a terrorist group. She canceled a trip to the UK to receive an award last year due to the risk of arrest once she set foot on British soil.

Who exactly is Palestine Action? Why are they considered a terrorist group?

Palestine Action, a direct action group, was established in the UK in 2020 and its activities have focused on break-ins and property damage at factories owned by Israeli arms manufacturers. The British government banned the group as a terrorist organization in July 2025, apparently prompted by its break-in to a Royal Air Force base to spray-paint military planes the previous month. This now makes membership and support of the group an offense in the same way that joining or supporting Al-Qaeda or ISIS would be. The ban was unpopular in the UK and led to repeated protests in which peaceful elderly and disabled people were taken away by police for holding signs saying: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestinian action”. There were more than 700 arrests of protesters linked to the ban on Palestine Action, almost all of whom were just waving banners.

Terrorism That seems like a strong word to describe what these guys do.

Correct! This designation is quite widely seen here as a worrying abuse of anti-terrorism laws. Palestine Action, ISIS and Al-Qaeda… one of these things is not like the others.

Who is Rooney’s dog in this fight?

It has long actively supported Palestine, at least in part because solidarity between Ireland and Palestine has always been strong due to their shared history of colonial oppression. Her decision to announce that she was going to donate royalties to Palestine Action in particular was not just to support Palestine, but to deliberately do something that the British government had deemed illegal in order to challenge its overreach in banning a protest group.

And Faber decided to abandon Rooney?!

Far from it, I think. Both Faber and Rooney released statements on Wednesday explaining that the decision was made jointly and that it seems far more likely that it was an agreed strategy to protect both parties legally, but more importantly, to drive home the message of how untenable the British government’s legislation is. They can’t say categorically, but I’d bet any money that’s what’s happening. And speaking of money, that’s no small thing for Faber: in years when Rooney releases a new paperback or hardback, sales of her books would represent about 10 percent of the company’s revenue, so popular is she. It seems unlikely that UK law enforcement would actually attempt to arrest Rooney if she came to the country, as the move would be extremely unpopular, but it highlights the absurdity of the law for Rooney and Faber to clearly state that this is what the law provides.

I can still buy Rooney’s books outside the UK, can’t I?

Of course. Faber will supply them in Ireland and the Commonwealth countries, and she is with Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States, and Penguin Random House in many other places. This decision only applies to the UK market.

Why is this happening now?

The timing of the announcement is part of what makes it seem clear that Faber did not decide to let go of Rooney out of cowardice in his political beliefs. Palestine Action sought to have the ban imposed on it overturned at the UK High Court in February. The court found the ban disproportionate, but the government later appealed to a higher court, the Court of Appeal, which upheld the ban in June. Next month the case will be heard again on appeal to the even higher Supreme Court, and so this announcement from Faber and Rooney now brings the whole matter back into the public eye.

Why is Prime Minister Andy Burnham trying to fight to keep the ban, especially when he is leader of the Labor Party?

Good question, and one that Faber and Rooney would probably like people to ask. It’s not at all a good idea that the British government actually censors which books can or cannot be published here because of the author’s political beliefs. I also imagine that the last thing a left-wing leader literally named “Burnham” wants to do is get tarred with the brush of book burnings. Of course, it is not even necessary for Palestine Action to be classified as a terrorist organization for legal action to be taken against protesters for reasons such as property damage and bodily harm, if that is the ostensible purpose of the designation. But now that the insane decision has been made to outlaw Palestinian action, UN-banning them is a huge can of worms, as it would invite accusations of anti-Semitism, however false they may be. This is a very delicate issue here in the UK in general, dating back well before 7 October to the Labor Party scandals around whether denouncing Zionism was anti-Jewish.

So Burnham is only perpetuating the previous government’s spinelessness towards Gaza?

Kind of, and kind of not. He issued a formal apology for Keir Starmer’s slowness in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza just before becoming prime minister, saying: “Labour’s initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused enormous harm. We got it wrong and I’m sorry.” What he has not done, however, is call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, nor has he shown any sign of wanting to overturn the ban on Palestinian action.

What will happen next? A black market for over-the-counter paperbacks Normal people in Britain?

I suppose so, unless next month’s Supreme Court judgment rules in favor of Palestine Action, and unless the government does the right thing – in fact what British governments have done. love do it anyway – and takes it all back and pretends that this whole embarrassing affair was never arrived.