Sally Rooney will no longer be sold in the United Kingdom.
As reported by several outlets, including the Guardian, the Irish bestselling author has stated that she can no longer receive royalties from her overseas sales due to her expressed support for Palestine Action, and that, in agreement with her publisher, Faber, she has decided to pull the works from the market.
The Support for the Palestinian Cause
An inevitably controversial case. But let’s proceed in order: last July Rooney declared her sustaining the pro-Palestinian organization Palestine Action, which the United Kingdom government has officially declared illegal (and consequently, any aid to it).
The author of Conversations with Friends and Normal People, in response, renewed her support, adding that she would donate the proceeds from her rights to the direct-action group: “If supporting Palestine Action makes me a terrorist sympathizer under UK law, so be it.”
The Fear of an Arrest
In the months that followed, Sally Rooney spoke repeatedly about the risks and consequences of her actions. First by avoiding a trip to London to collect an award (withdrawn by her publisher, Alex Bowler) and then by emphasizing the impossibility of being paid for her works and for the series produced from them.
As the Guardian also notes, “last year Rooney explained that she was told by the independent producer of the television adaptations that any payment to her in connection with those series, both aired before the ban, would constitute a breach of anti-terrorism laws if the producer knew or suspected she was using the royalties to fund Palestine Action.”
The Withdrawal from the Market of Her Works
And now that risk has become real. After failing to secure royalties for a year, Rooney stated that she was forced to withdraw her books from sale in Britain: “The enforcement of the contracts for publishing my works in the United Kingdom could now amount to a serious crime.”
From the Faber publishing house the situation is explained as follows: “The current legislation in the United Kingdom has created a situation in which Faber cannot transfer to Sally Rooney the earnings from UK sales. Selling the works of a writer and not being able to transfer the earnings is a situation that cannot be tolerated.” And further: “Therefore, and in full agreement with Sally, we have decided not to distribute her works in the United Kingdom in any format. We remain proud to be the editors of her extraordinary literary output, which we will continue to sell in other countries.”
The Success of Sally Rooney
Born in 1991, since her debut Rooney has been regarded as one of the most important voices on the Anglophone literary scene. Her novels – Conversations with Friends, Normal People, Beautiful World, Where Are You? and Intermission – have become bestsellers in several countries, including Italy, where the Irish writer, nicknamed the “Salinger of the Snapchat generation”, is published by Einaudi.
