Writers rally behind Sally Rooney after UK booksellers pull her novels
Nearly 160 cultural figures signed an open letter defending the Irish novelist after Faber withdrew her books from sale over her support for the banned group Palestine Action.
An open letter published in the New Statesman and signed by close to 160 writers, artists, actors and public figures states plainly that "Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist," according to Literary Hub. The letter responds to the decision by her publisher Faber to stop supplying her books in the United Kingdom, after Rooney said she could no longer sell books there because of her support for Palestine Action, a group banned under British law, as reported by The Guardian.
Livres Hebdo reports that the tribune's signatories include Zadie Smith, Annie Ernaux, Arundhati Roy, Ali Smith and Kamila Shamsie, among roughly 160 figures from the world of culture denouncing what they describe as a ban on the sale of Rooney's work in the UK.
The controversy has had an immediate effect on sales. The Guardian reports that demand for Rooney's novels rose nearly 300 percent in a week as readers rushed to buy copies before they disappeared from shelves. At Bookmarked, an independent bookshop in Bristol, the three Rooney titles in stock sold out within hours of Faber's announcement, and the shop says it can no longer restock them.
In retrospect, I feel like we should have put them behind a glass casing, forever on display until the law is overturned.
Evelyn, general manager of Bookmarked bookshop, Bristol, via The Guardian
No French publication date or translation detail for a response from Rooney or Faber was included in the available reporting.
Sources
This article was written from these reports.
