Hundreds of cultural figures including writers, actors and Nobel literature laureates have signed an open letter in support of Irish novelist Sally Rooney.

Hundreds of cultural figures including writers, actors and Nobel literature laureates have signed an open letter in support of Irish novelist Sally Rooney.

The letter, published today in the New Statesman, calls on the UK government to overturn the ban on Palestine Action. Rooney’s support for the group has led to her books being withdrawn from sale in the UK for legal reasons.

Among the signatories are the stars of the television adaptation of her book Normal People, Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, as well as the show’s director Lenny Abrahamson.

“Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist,” the letter says. “Her books must be available to the public. 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.

“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.”

Other high-profile signatories include Nobel literature laureates Anne Carson, JM Coetzee and Annie Ernaux – plus bestselling authors Omar El Akkad, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Rosen, Arundhati Roy and Irvine Welsh.

The historians William Dalrymple and Avi Shlaim have also signed, as have journalist Owen Jones, ex-footballer Gary Lineker and actors Susan Sarandon and Tilda Swinton. Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, the band Kneecap and Massive Attack frontman Robert Del Naja also lent their support.

Last week, Rooney said that she and her publisher, Faber, had agreed that her books could no longer be sold in the UK. Because she has publicly said she would donate proceeds from her books to Palestine Action, Faber would not be able to pass on the proceeds of her book sales to Rooney – an outcome the publisher described as “unconscionable”.

It added: “We remain the proud publisher of her remarkable body of work, which we will continue to sell in other territories.”

Members of Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July 2025, have repeatedly blockaded and damaged factories supplying weaponry that Israel’s military has used to commit genocide in Gaza.

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