Actors, writers condemn UK anti-terror law targeting Sally Rooney

Dozens of leading writers, actors and activists have condemned the UK law used to proscribe Palestine Action as a “repressive absurdity” in an open letter backing Irish novelist Sally Rooney, whose books have been withdrawn from sale in the United Kingdom.

The letter comes after Rooney said her books had been pulled from sale in the UK due to her public support for Palestine Action, a group the British government designated as a “terrorist organisation”.

Signatories include actors Paul Mescal – who played in an adaptation of her book Normal People, Susan Sarandon and Tilda Swinton; broadcaster Gary Lineker; and writers Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, JM Coetzee, Zadie Smith and William Dalrymple.

Filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, philosopher Slavoj Zizek, musician Kate Nash and the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap have also signed the letter.

“Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist. Her books must be available to the public,” the letter reads. “Their withdrawal from sale, on the basis of ill-conceived and draconian anti-terror legislation, is an affront to basic principles of free speech and expression so long taken for granted in this country.”

The letter appears on the cover of this week’s New Statesman magazine, two weeks before the Supreme Court is set to hear a case on the ban.

“We categorically reject censorship – whether direct or indirect – and urge the government to change course, amending the legislation which has led us to this point of repressive absurdity,” the letter concludes.

Rooney’s publisher, Faber & Faber, said on Wednesday that the withdrawal stemmed from “circumstances where Faber cannot pass on UK earnings to Sally Rooney for her work” and to continue sales would be an “unconscionable situation for a publisher”.

Rooney has said that further publication of her work could constitute a “serious criminal offence”.

She said she had made “every effort to be honest” with the public about her beliefs and intentions, adding that she was “wholly prepared to accept the consequences”.

E-books of Rooney’s work have also been removed from sale in the UK, although some physical copies remain available in bookshops.

She has authored four best-selling novels, selling more than six million books globally.