Sally Rooney has confirmed that her publisher will no longer be supplying Normal People and her other works to UK bookshops, due to her support of Palestine Action.
In 2025, the UK government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. The move was heavily criticised by many pro-Palestine supporters with Massive Attack and Primal Scream slamming the “ugly, unrecognisable” British government for allowing the arrest of “peaceful citizens” at a Palestine Action demonstration in London that same year.
Earlier this year three senior judges ruled that the ban on the group under anti-terrorism laws was unlawful and disproportionate. The Met Police said that they would stop arresting people for showing support for Palestine Action but will continue to gather evidence in case prosecutions arise in the future.
However Palestine Action, which works to “end global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”, is still classified as a terrorist organisation.
Last August, Sally Rooney wrote an article for The Irish Times where she promised to keep supporting Palestine Action and “direct action against genocide” with the proceeds from her books. “If this makes me a supporter of terror under UK law, so be it”.
“As a result, the fulfilment of contracts to publish my work in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offence,” she explained in a statement shared yesterday (Wednesday October 14) with the BBC.
“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,” she continued.
Digital Ebooks have already been removed from sale in the UK and while new copies of Normal People, Conversations With Friends and Beautiful World, Where Are You can’t be published, stores can still sell existing copies.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said the author’s work being withdrawn marked “a new low in the escalating assault on free speech caused by the proscription of Palestine Action.
“She has refused to compromise her convictions, even at considerable personal and professional cost. Her work should be celebrated and widely available, not driven off the shelves of British bookshops because she refuses to be complicit in the suppression of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Ammori continued. “No author should have to choose between their principles and their freedom to publish.”
“Whatever one’s views on Palestine Action, we should all be concerned when laws intended to combat terrorism end up silencing artistic freedom and the ability to engage in peaceful political dissent,” said Kerry Moscogiuri, the chief executive of Amnesty International UK. “Writers should not find their books disappearing from shelves because of their political beliefs. Nor should people have to choose between expressing their conscience and pursuing their livelihoods.”
Last month, Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran‘s ‘Loop’ stadium tour of North America after calling for a “free Palestine” on stage. Since then, Macklemore has since donated his entire $1million earnings from the tour to six organisations supporting Palestinians, and also announced a ‘Free Palestine Tour’, which has already sold out.
Meanwhile Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja was arrested outside the Labour Party Conference for holding a sign that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
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