Faber Stops Supplying Sally Rooney's Books in U.K. Over Palestinian Action Ban

Sally Rooney's novels will no longer be sold in the U.K. in any format, her publisher Faber announced this week, according to NPR. The company said British law now prevents it from passing her U.K. earnings on to her, after the Irish author pledged to donate proceeds to Palestinian Action, a group the British government has banned as a terrorist organization.

Faber said it made the decision in full agreement with Rooney. The case sits at the center of a wider dispute over how far Britain's terrorism law should reach, and the ban on the group is due before the country's highest court next month, NPR reported.

What Faber and Rooney have said

In its statement, Faber said current U.K. legislation meant it could not hand over Rooney's earnings for her work. It called selling a writer's books without being able to pay her an "unconscionable situation" for a publisher.

Rooney, 35, announced last year in an opinion piece in The Irish Times that she would use the British proceeds of her books, and her public platform, to keep supporting Palestinian Action. She wrote that if this made her a supporter of terror under U.K. law, so be it. She has said she believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza; Israel strongly denies that allegation.

In a statement shared with NPR, Rooney said she had tried to be honest about her beliefs and was "wholly prepared to accept the consequences." She has also said she stopped traveling from her home in Ireland to the U.K. for award ceremonies and other events out of fear of arrest.

The government's case for the ban

The British government banned Palestinian Action in July last year, citing what it called serious damage to property. NPR described it as the first time a terrorist designation had been applied to a group that does not call for violence against people.

Officials said at the time that the group's activity had grown more frequent and severe since the start of 2024, and that its members had shown a willingness to use violence. The government said the group's actions met the threshold of being concerned in terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

NPR reported that the group has targeted facilities linked to an Israeli weapons manufacturer and broke into Britain's largest air force base last year, spray-painting two aircraft red. The group said that was a protest against British military support for Israel. It also vandalized one of President Trump's golf courses in Scotland, and Trump called those responsible terrorists. The group says on its website that it uses disruptive tactics against companies it accuses of enabling the Israeli military.

The critics' objections

Critics say the designation threatens free expression. U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged the U.K. to reverse it, calling it disproportionate and unnecessary. He said it limits the rights of people connected to or supportive of the group who have not committed any underlying crime.

Amnesty International UK said the country has a deeply flawed and overly broad definition of terrorism.

Why it matters for readers and the wider debate

For U.K. readers, the practical effect is that one of the country's best-selling literary novelists is no longer available from her publisher in any format. Under the law, NPR reported, anyone who provides financial assistance to the group could face up to 14 years in prison. That is the exposure Faber says it cannot accept by paying Rooney.

The ban has also had wider effects. NPR reported that several thousand people in the U.K. have been arrested for supporting the group since it was proscribed, mainly for carrying placards and wearing T-shirts.

What happens next

The ban has gone back and forth in the courts. The U.K. high court ruled against it in February, and a court of appeal later overturned that decision. Britain's highest court is set to hear the case next month, according to NPR.

In August, the U.S. Department of the Treasury followed the U.K.'s lead and imposed sanctions on Palestinian Action, calling its members far-left terrorists.

Source: NPR