Discussion
I hope UK bookshops carry on selling the Sally Rooney novels the UK government has tried to ban.
When I was in the book trade we carried on selling imported copies of Spycatcher - the exposé of nefarious political interventions by MI5 and the CIA that Thatcher tried to ban.
As a bonus, our book co-op made a fortune, as the big chains (now Amazon, etc) bowed to the book banning.
It would be nice to see prominent Sally Rooney displays in every independent bookshop in the UK...
@GeofCox There is no book ban. Her publisher withdrew her books from sale voluntarily because, they say, they can't pay her royalties. It seems extremely unlikely that they could be prosecuted for paying royalties to an author because she'd said she would donate those royalties to a proscribed organization. Maybe that has happened, but I doubt it.
It seems more likely that they and Rooney withdrew the books for publicity reasons — to highlight the injustice of PA's proscription.
I suspect the whole situation with Faber claiming they can't pay Sally Rooney because of legal restrictions is, in a word, bullshit.
Proscription of an organisation isn't like measles; you don't catch it by being in the same room. It's not transitive. Otherwise my employer is breaking the law by paying me after my saying I support her free speech.
Unless Sally Rooney is a *member* of Palestine Action, I don't think there's any legal prohibition on financial dealing with her at all.
People have been arrested simply for saying they support Palestine Action - or, in one case, 'Plasticine Action' !
Yes, and that's very stupid, but it's not a test of the meaning of the law, just what the police have been told to do. Nobody's going to get found guilty in court and go to prison for a Plasticine Action t-shirt.
More, it's still not transitive. Supporting the guy with the Plasticine Action tee isn't legally equivalent to supporting Palestine Action, so if he went to Tesco to buy a sandwich, Tesco wouldn't be in trouble for selling him one.
The claim being made by Faber is a lie.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/1016/1595650-behind-the-story-sally-rooney/
Note that Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC - a top international human rights lawyer - also describes it as a government 'ban' of Rooney's books.
@GeofCox
I understood it not as a ban on the sale of Sally Rooney’s books but that Faber is now unable to pay her for earnings due from book sales. As a consequence, they will no longer distribute the books for sale (existing stocks remain available).
Isn’t it true that books do not attract any VAT or duties (and thus inspection) when delivered from foreign sellers to UK customers?
Perhaps booksellers located in Ireland could offer readers ready access to Sally Rooney’s books while Faber & Faber recognise sales in Ireland and no legal hindrance to paying the earnings due?
The government would no doubt argue that it's not a ban - but in practice that's exactly what it is.
When I worked in the book trade it was normal practice for bookshops to order foreign editions of books, generally in response to specific customer orders - but in the case of Spycatcher we just ordered hundreds for our shelves and window displays - as did thousands of other independent bookshops. In the end, the government just gave up trying to stop it, and backed down.
@GeofCox Your post lead me to look up who she was. I will now buy one of her books - Normal People perhaps? The UK is kowtowing to the US and the tangerine tyrant, it is simply disgusting, shame on them for attacking freedom of opinion! @guardeddon
Normal People is her most popular book, and probably the most accessible, but I think her later novels, especially Intermezzo, are better.
She's an interesting case - a popular, mass-market success, but make no mistake also highly accomplished, exploring complex and difficult themes and characters - and she's very much on the political left.
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@GeofCox
Maybe she & her English publisher could donate her royalties to a charity supporting trans people? Would that satisfy th government?