"If You Ban Sally Rooney, You Ban All of Us:" The Fight Over a Writer's Conscience

Sally Rooney, the Irish author best known for her global best-seller and TV adaptation Normal People, made a drastic decision to end her collection of UK book royalties, but now her books are being removed from shelves entirely.

Just last year, the UK designated Palestine Action a terrorist organization. The decision came after the group was found in serious violation of laws against property damage, with actions the government compared to those outlined in the Terrorism Act of 2000.

Protesters from the group broke into one of Britain's largest air bases and spray-painted two aircrafts red, symbolizing the casualties of the war and Britain's involvement and support of Israel. Palestine Action says it uses destructive tactics like these to target "corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex" and seeks to make it impossible for these companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians.

Rooney took an opposite stance from the government in a guest opinion piece last year in the Irish Times , titled “I support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it.” She publicly announced she would donate her UK royalties to the group in defense of Palestine, to aid those affected by the current war which fueled even more donations and attention for the fund. 

Now the Normal People author is speaking out again saying the government is withdrawing her books from shelves across the nation in a sudden move. In a public statement she said: "I wrote an opinion piece expressing my intention to go on supporting Palestine Action, which is not a proscribed or otherwise prohibited group here in the Republic of Ireland."  Rooney has also cancelled her upcoming trip to the UK, fearing arrest, as she was set to pick up her Sky Arts Award for Literature for her novel Intermezzo.

Faber, Rooney's publisher, has since released a statement stating the "Current legislation in the UK has led to circumstances where Faber cannot pass on UK earnings to Sally Rooney for her work. To sell a writer's work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher." 

Then within days of this statement more public outcry from fans and letters of support from fellow authors of Rooney have been pouring in. According to The Bookseller Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Nikesh Shukla and Juno Dawson are just a few out of the 300 authors who have signed the letter and condemned the actions of the UK government’s actions against Rooney. 

What began as an author’s stand against government action has become a defining test of what free expression looks like today. Rooney’s decision to redirect her royalties some argue was a personal one, yet the UK government’s response of pulling her books and barring her from shelves has turned a personal protest into a public reckoning. The authors who have signed in support of Rooney have framed the stakes clearly showing that this was never just about one author, but about how they can get literature and its writers to fall in line. The letter ends with the simple statement: “A country that bans its writers for speaking out is not a free country. If you ban Sally Rooney, you ban all of us.” It warns that a country that silences one voice is willing to silence us all and while Sally Rooney’s books may be off of shelves, this conversation of authors using their craft to take a stand is one that won’t be disappearing any time soon.