Sally Rooney’s UK Book Ban Is No Problem for Her Swedish Publisher, Who Calls It ‘Astonishing’

What authors do with their royalties is none of the publisher's business, says Johanna Haegerström, Rooney's publisher at Albert Bonnier Publishing.

After the Palestine Action network was designated a terrorist organization and banned in the UK, Sally Rooney announced that she would continue donating proceeds from her books directly to the organization. Since doing so is also considered a crime in the UK, Rooney's British publisher, Faber, announced that it could no longer pass on proceeds from bestselling books such as "Normal People" and "Intermezzo" to Rooney.

This means the publisher will not sell the books in the UK either.

"We have made the decision, in agreement with Sally, that we cannot provide her books in any format," Faber wrote on the publisher's website.

In Sweden, Palestine Action is not classified as a terrorist organization, and Johanna Haegerström does not believe Rooney's position is problematic for Bonnier.

In principle, however, she is concerned about the development.

That an author cannot feel safe publishing their novels in a country is an astonishing and very unfortunate development, says Johanna Haegerström.