UK publisher Faber stops supplying Sally Rooney's books over Palestine Action royalties

Publisher pulls the books

Faber, Rooney's British publisher, said on Wednesday, 14 October that it would no longer supply her works in the UK in any format. The company said that paying her UK royalties could breach the ban on Palestine Action and that the decision was reached with Rooney's agreement. Rooney, 35, is the author of four novels, among them Conversations with Friends, Normal People and Intermezzo, and her books have sold millions of copies. After the UK proscribed Palestine Action in July 2025, she said she would direct proceeds from her books and their BBC television adaptations to the group. In a statement she said:

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.

Under the ban, membership of or support for the group is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Booksellers left with existing stock

The Booksellers Association said Faber had confirmed that UK bookshops can no longer order these titles, but they may keep selling copies already on their shelves. Shops that rushed to buy extra copies found that wholesalers had run out. Brick Lane Bookshop in London said every Rooney title in its store was sold out and that it did not expect more. Pages of Hackney said its wholesaler could no longer supply it at all. Paddy Screech, an owner of Word on the Water, said he would keep stocking her books for as long as sourcing and selling them stays legal:

I'll happily make her books available.

Trouw reported that from Thursday, 15 October, UK customers ordering her titles through Amazon would see a notice that the item was no longer available in their region.

Arrests, the law and political reaction

Il Messaggero recalls that activists sprayed paint on two military aircraft at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June 2025, causing damage it put at 7 million pounds, and that the group was banned under the Terrorism Act 2000 on 5 July 2025. TheJournal reports that more than 3,000 people have been arrested for publicly backing the group. Trouw adds that 1,200 of them have been charged and that nobody has yet been convicted. Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said she was shocked by the news and would speak directly to the UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband. Ian Byrne, one of nine Labour MPs who voted against the July 2025 ban, called the impact on Rooney draconian, and Labour MPs have called for the proscription to be overturned.

Israel and East Jerusalem

Rooney's books have been hard to find in Israel since 2021, when she turned down a Hebrew translation offer from the publisher Modan to back the BDS movement. The chains Steimatzky and Tsomet Sefarim then removed her titles, and together they operate more than 200 shops. Migdalor, an independent shop in Tel Aviv, still sells hundreds of copies of each Hebrew title, including Intermezzo, which was published by the independent November Books. In East Jerusalem, Mahmoud Muna, owner of the Educational Bookshop, says Israeli customers now make up about 20% of his sales. He described the latest rush of demand this way:

This morning we sold another two copies because she's in the news again.