Customers at a Belfast bookshop have been “panic buying” novels by award-winning Irish author Sally Rooney since her publisher announced it would no longer distribute her work in the UK due to her support for Palestine Action.
By 11am on Friday, Rooney’s books were sold out at No Alibis on Botanic Avenue in the south of the city.
Scenes from the BBC adaptation of Conversations with Friends – the Co Mayo-based author’s first book – were filmed in the independent store.
The text is on a first-year reading course at nearby Queen’s University Belfast. No Alibis owner David Torrans said staff were left “saddened and worried” by Faber & Faber’s announcement on Wednesday.
“We strongly believe this is a freedom of speech issue. As long as we can source distribution of Sally Rooney’s books, we will continue to sell them,” Torrans told The Irish Times.
Stock arrived at the shop from a Dublin wholesaler on Friday afternoon, with copies of Rooney’s Intermezzo and Normal People lining the shelves at 3pm.
“We had people yesterday who were in a bit of a panic and bought the books,” said Lexi Ward, who has worked at No Alibis for five years.
“One woman came in earlier who said she had never been in our shop before – but after seeing that news it made her want to support bookshops more.”
Rooney donated some of the proceeds from the sale of her books to support Palestine Action, which was proscribed in the UK last year as a terrorism-supporting organisation.
According to Faber & Faber, British anti-terrorism legislation means it cannot pass on earnings to her from her book sales.
Torrans said Rooney had attended events at the shop for many years. She visited the bookshop when Normal People – which sold more than one million copies in the UK alone – was first published in 2018.
“These are books of fiction about people’s experiences. They’re not books of a political or polemical nature,” said Torrans.
“As far as we’re concerned, it seems to be an issue where someone’s creative product is being curtailed and restricted. It’s got nothing to do with politics.”
Demand for Rooney’s books at Bridge Books in the market town of Dromore, Co Down, had “gone through the roof”, according to its owner.
Lesley Price said sales at her independent book shop had more than quadrupled since Wednesday. Many were online orders from Britian.
[ Will Sally Rooney’s books now be removed from shops across the UK?Opens in new window ]
Like Torrans, she sources stock from a Dublin-based wholesaler and distributor. “I have just managed to get a little emergency top-up from Dublin to fulfil orders,” she said on Friday. “But I’ll have none left by the end of the day. Percentage wise, sales have gone a bit bonkers.”
The development has also led to a surge in sales at a Galway bookshop. Tómas Kenny, who co-runs Kennys Bookshop in Galway with his sister Sarah, said sales of Rooney’s books had increased tenfold.
Numbers were “still increasing”, with sales “substantially higher” on Friday morning than at the same time on Thursday, he said.
There was a “considerable uptake in orders” of Rooney’s books from “the UK in particular”, Sarah Kenny said.
On Thursday, the bookshop posted on Instagram: “We have seen an upsurge in sales of Sally Rooney’s books to the UK today. Please note that you can still buy her books from Kennys Bookshop and other bookshops in Ireland.”
Following the post, Sarah said they received a “huge response” from people commenting that they were buying Rooney’s books in solidarity with her.
She said it had been “so shocking” for the public as it was “effectively censorship of her books in the UK over her political views”.
“I think that’s why it’s such a mind-boggling story,” she said. “It’s hard to see how this is going to pan out. It’s obviously a wider political issue.
“We shipped to over 100 countries from Kenny’s and her books have international appeal.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has confirmed she would speak directly to Britain’s foreign secretary Ed Miliband after it emerged that Rooney’s work would no longer be distributed in Britain.