Irish author Sally Rooney could not travel to collect a literary prize this week over concerns that she may be arrested if she enters the UK, given her support of banned group Palestine Action.
She has cancelled all future public engagements in Britain, and is currently seeking advice over legal issues that, she says, “could affect the very availability of my work.”
Rooney won the Sky Arts award for literature for her fourth novel, Intermezzo. At a ceremony on Tuesday, audiences were told that Rooney “couldn’t be here”, before her editor, Faber publisher Alex Bowler, collected the award on her behalf.
Bowler read a statement from Rooney, in which she explained that because of her support for “non-violent anti-war protest” she had been advised that she could “no longer safely enter the UK” without potentially facing arrest.
In August, Rooney said that she intends to use proceeds from her works, which include Normal People and Conversations with Friends, along with BBC adaptations of them, to support Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in July.
“I’m so touched and grateful to receive this prize”, began Rooney’s statement on Tuesday, read by Bowler. “I truly loved writing Intermezzo and it means the world to me to think that it has found some small place in the lives of its readers – thank you.”
“I wish that I could be with you this evening to accept the honour in person, but because of my support for non-violent anti-war protest, I’m advised that I can no longer safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest,” her statement continued. “In that context, I want to thank you all the more warmly for honouring my work tonight, and to reiterate my belief in the dignity and beauty of all human life, and my solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
Last month, the lawyer and writer Sadakat Kadri told the Guardian that “receiving money with the intention of using it to support terrorism is an offence under section 15 of the 2000 act”, meaning Rooney could be “arrested without a warrant as a ‘terrorist’.” He said that she could face prosecution if she were to express her views at, for example, a UK book festival, underscoring the proscription’s “gross disproportionality”.
More than 1,600 people have been arrested in connection with Palestine Action since the ban in early July.
In a statement to the Guardian, Rooney said “at present, because of my ongoing public support for Palestine Action, it is my understanding that I cannot visit the UK without risking detention or arrest. Sadly, this means I have had to cancel any future public engagements in Britain, and I could not attend the Sky Arts ceremony at which my work was honoured this week.
“While I would have liked very much to accept the honour in person, this is far from the gravest consequence of the proscription of a non-violent protest group. Peaceful protesters have already been arrested in unprecedented numbers, and the ramifications for artistic and cultural life are only just beginning. I am presently in the process of seeking advice on legal issues that could affect the very availability of my work to the public.
“As the UN [commission of inquiry] finds that Israel has committed and is committing genocide against the Palestinian people, the work of Palestine Action could not possibly be more courageous or important. The least I can do is to make clear that I support them and will go on doing so, no matter the consequences.”
