Faber pulls Sally Rooney's books from UK sale over terror law

Sally Rooney can't sell her books in the UK anymore. Not because readers stopped wanting them — Faber's statement makes clear this isn't a quality or demand problem — but because the law got there first.

Here's the chain of events. Last year, Rooney pledged to send her royalty earnings to Palestine Action, a direct-action group focused on ending the UK's arms supply to Israel. The UK government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization under counterterrorism law passed in July 2025, which makes giving the group financial or material support a criminal offense. That pledge, once legal, became a liability the moment the law took effect — and Faber found itself in a position where fulfilling its own publishing contracts could expose it to prosecution.

Faber's statement doesn't mince words: "To sell a writer's work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher." So, in agreement with Rooney, it's stopping UK distribution of her work. Her books will keep selling everywhere else.

Rooney herself told the Bookseller that fulfilling her UK publishing contracts "could now constitute a serious criminal offense," and added: "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." She says she has no further comment.

Worth knowing: the proscription itself is contested ground. The UK's High Court ruled the ban on Palestine Action unlawful in February 2026, only for an appeals court to overturn that ruling in June. Rooney is among several public figures who've argued the proscription violates civil liberties. So this isn't settled law being calmly applied — it's a live legal fight, and Rooney's royalties got caught in the middle of it while the courts kept changing their minds.

What this means for you: this is an extreme, singular case — most authors aren't funneling royalties to a proscribed organization. But it's a sharp reminder that royalty clauses don't exist in a vacuum. They sit inside whatever the law says this month, and that law can move under you without warning, especially when it's still being litigated. If you've made any public commitment about where your earnings go — to a cause, a fund, an organization — it's worth checking its legal status isn't shifting under you too.

Watch this one closely. PW has reached out to the UK's Society of Authors and English PEN for comment, and the appeal over Palestine Action's proscription is still playing out in court. Whatever happens there could change this story again.