If you believe best-selling Irish author Sally Rooney, then she has just been censored by the United Kingdom’s government. On Wednesday, Rooney announced that her publisher had concluded that the sale of her novels in Britain could constitute a serious criminal offense, and so the books were being withdrawn from sale in the country.
The saga that brought Rooney to this point began in 2025, when the British government designated the anti-Israel group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. Rooney, a virulent critic of Israel, pledged to give a portion of her royalties to that organization, in spite of the designation. Supporting a proscribed group is an offense under the UK’s anti-terror legislation. And her publisher was understandably eager to avoid prosecution for serious crimes.