This week, something happened in Britain that should worry every reader, every writer and everyone who believes in free speech.

Faber, the publisher of the Irish novelist Sally Rooney, announced that it will no longer supply her books in the United Kingdom, in any format. Her novels, Normal People, Conversations with Friends, Beautiful World, Where Are You and Intermezzo, will slowly disappear from British bookshops.

Faber said that current UK law means it cannot pass on UK earnings to the author. It said that selling a writer’s work without paying her is not acceptable for any publisher. It will continue to sell her books in every other country.

Faber said that current UK law means it cannot pass on UK earnings to the author. It said that selling a writer’s work without paying her is not acceptable for any publisher. It will continue to sell her books in every other country.

Think about that for a moment. A British publisher can sell its own author’s books all over the world, but not in Britain.

How did we reach this point? In July 2025, the government banned the direct-action group Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act. A month later, Rooney wrote openly in The Irish Times about her position and said she would direct the proceeds of her work accordingly. The group is not banned in Ireland, where she lives. In Britain, however, she says that fulfilling her publishing contracts could now be a serious criminal offence.

She warned the High Court last year that this could........

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