Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley sign letter supporting Sally Rooney after UK books withdrawn

Actors Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley and musicians CMAT and Kneecap have signed an open letter supporting Irish author Sally Rooney after her publisher stopped supplying her books in the UK.The Irish artists have joined dozens of prominent international cultural figures supporting the novelist in the letter published in British magazine the New Statesman over Rooney’s backing of a pro-Palestinian action group. The signatories – who also include Irish authors Colm Tóibín, Anne Enright and Anna Burns, and actor Sharon Horgan – condemn the withdrawal of Rooney’s books from sale in the UK “on the basis of ill-conceived and draconian anti-terror legislation”.Rooney’s publisher, Faber & Faber, announced last week that, in agreement with the author, it would no longer distribute her books for sale in the UK because British anti-terrorism legislation means it cannot pass on earnings to her from her book sales.READ MOREThe signatories say in the letter that the move 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.”The letter is signed by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Mescal’s costar in the BBC adaptation of Rooney’s Normal People, and Lenny Abrahamson, the director of the drama miniseries.“Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist,” the open letter starts. “Her books must be available to the public.”[ Sales of Sally Rooney books surge in Northern Ireland after publisher stops UK distributionOpens in new window ]International figures who have signed the letter include Nobel Prize in Literature winners Anne Carson, JM Coetzee and Annie Ernaux, along with authors Arundhati Roy and Ben Lerner.Other signatories include Booker Prize winners Bernardine Evaristo and George Saunders, Jeanette Winterson, Irvine Welsh, Zadie Smith, William Boyd, William Dalrymple and Naomi Klein and former footballer and presenter Gary Lineker.The letter is also signed by Mark O’Connell and Seamas O’Reilly, who both write columns for The Irish Times.Rooney’s Normal People has sold more than one million copies in the UK alone, while her first novel, Conversations with Friends, and Beautiful World, Where Are You have each sold more than 500,000 copies.Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian direct action group, was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government in July 2025.[ Mark O’Connell: Sally Rooney could have made things a great deal easier for herself. She chose not toOpens in new window ]After the group was banned, Rooney, who lives in Co Mayo, said she would use proceeds from her sales to support Palestine Action.In August 2025, she wrote an opinion piece in The Irish Times with the headline: “I support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it.”