Stars and Nobel Laureates Back Sally Rooney as UK Book Ban Sparks Free-Speech Outcry

Irish novelist Sally Rooney's books were pulled from UK distribution by Faber & Faber after she publicly stated she would direct her UK royalties to Palestine Action, a group designated a terrorist organisation by the British government in July 2025. Passing those earnings to her could expose the publisher to criminal liability under UK counter-terrorism law. On 21–22 October 2026 an open letter published in the New Statesman, signed by actors Paul Mescal, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Jessie Buckley — stars of the Normal People television adaptation — along with musicians CMAT and Kneecap, several Nobel Prize-winning writers, and dozens of other cultural figures, demanded the books be made available again. The letter states: "Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist. Her books must be available to the public," condemning the publisher's decision as relying on "ill-conceived and draconian anti-terror legislation." Rooney herself had written in The Irish Times: "If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it." The story drew international coverage on October 22 as a landmark confrontation between counter-terrorism law and literary freedom of expression.