Children’s books facing ban as authors pledge royalties to Sally Rooney

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Ms Rooney was forced to withdraw sales of her books in Britain after she said she would use proceeds to support Palestine Action, which is not banned in the Republic of Ireland.

Her publisher was forced to remove her stories from British shelves after legislation around the proscription of the direct action group meant she could no longer receive earnings on her work.

Chris Haughton, Ireland’s Children’s Literature Laureate, and author of Oh No, George!, said he “fully supports” Ms Rooney’s stance, adding: “Palestine Action have done more to block the illegal arms sales to Israel than any other organisation in the UK.

“I will therefore be using proceeds from my own UK book sales to donate to Sally Rooney in support. It’s up to her what she does with it.”

Welsh Children’s Literature Laureate Nicola Davies said: “I’ve spent 30 years writing about the natural world for children and being involved in children’s literacy and well-being.

“I can’t say that I am standing up for the children of Wales if I allow the children of Gaza to be murdered and mutilated without comment.”

Saying she will donate the royalties from her book The Day War Came, Ms Davies added: “Sally is free to do what she chooses with them, including giving them to help the work of Palestine Action.”

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, which campaigns to overturn the proscription, said: “A child can understand that the deliberate killing of thousands of Palestinian children is wrong.

“And that the jailing of people as terrorists for trying to stop that killing is wrong.

“The loss of children’s books from Britain’s bookshops would signal a further descent into madness.”

Mr Haughton and Ms Davies are among over 850 authors, illustrators, poets and editors to sign an open letter in support of Ms Rooney.

The letter reads: “It is unconscionable that a government can now effectively ban a single author for protesting that government’s own conflation of protest with terrorism.

“What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all.”

Calling the government to lift the proscription, it adds: “A country that bans its writers for speaking out is not a free country.

“If you ban Sally Rooney, you ban all of us.” 

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