LONDON — Faber, the publisher of Sally Rooney’s novels, has stopped supplying her books to the United Kingdom, and the Irish author says she agreed to it. The company’s stated reason is a British counter-terrorism law that, it says, leaves it unable to pay her.
The trigger is the Palestine Action ban, imposed in July 2025, and Rooney’s open support for the group. In a statement dated October 14, Faber said current UK legislation meant it could not pass on UK earnings to her, which it called “an unconscionable situation for a publisher.” Her works are out of UK supply “in any format,” the company said, “in full agreement with Sally,” while sales continue in other territories.
Rooney wrote in The Irish Times in August 2025 that she intended “to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.” The Home Office said when it announced the order that belonging to or supporting the group would, once approved, carry up to 14 years in prison.
Faber has not said which provision it fears. Faber’s statement ends “We have no further comment at this time,” and it does not say which retailers are affected or whether the arrangement has an end date. CBS News headlined its report that the books are off U.K. shelves; Faber’s wording concerns supply. Rooney’s own statement, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, dealt with consequences, not mechanics: “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.”
Last November Rooney told the High Court she was “almost certain” she could not publish new work in Britain while the ban stood, Euronews reported.
The ban itself is back before the courts: the High Court ruled it unlawful in February, the Court of Appeal reversed that in June, and the Supreme Court lists Huda Ammori’s appeal for November 4 and 5.
MP Ian Byrne, who voted against the ban, called the decision “an utterly disgraceful attack on freedom of expression,” Middle East Eye reported. The Campaign Against Antisemitism told CBS News that “Sally Rooney is finding out that she can’t have her cake and eat it,” and said it had reported her to counter-terrorism police; no police response appears in the reports reviewed. Euronews said more than 3,700 people are believed to have been arrested for alleged support of the group, without saying who counted, and police detained 55 at one protest backing the banned group in July 2025.
A London court in June jailed four Palestine Action activists over a raid on an Elbit Systems site. None of it settles Faber’s own problem: the company has not named the provision it fears, and none of the coverage reviewed carries a Home Office view on whether it reaches a publisher paying a royalty.
