Today in Focus Sally Rooney Why terrorism laws stopped Sally Rooney selling books in the UK – podcast The bestselling author says her books will no longer be supplied to UK bookshops over fears of prosecution. Zoe Williams and Haroon Siddique report
More ways to listen Apple podcasts Spotify RSS Feed Download Presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Zoe Williams and Haroon Siddique ; produced by Ruth Abrahams , Eleanor Biggs and Rudi Zygadlo Tue 20 Oct 2026 04.00 CEST Share For now there might be a copy or two of Intermezzo left kicking around in your local bookshop – snap it up if you haven’t already, because soon that will be it.
Last year, Sally Rooney said she would be using her royalties to support Palestine Action , a group that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation under UK law. Since then, thousands of people have been arrested for supporting the group. Now, faced with the risk of prosecution under terrorism legislation, Rooney and her publishers have decided to stop supplying her books to retailers in the UK.
Over the weekend, hundreds of authors signed an open letter supporting her. The rightwing press, meanwhile, have called Rooney a “tedious and malicious” “posturing ingrate”.
Zoe Williams explains the furore surrounding one of the most successful novelists of her generation, while Haroon Siddique tells Nosheen Iqbal how Rooney’s stance could affect the supreme court’s ruling on Palestine Action.