LONDON: Irish author Sally Rooney said she was unable to enter the UK this week to collect a Sky Arts Award for literature because she feared she would be arrested over her support for Palestine Action, an activist group recently banned by the UK government under terrorism legislation.
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Rooney, known for her novels including “Normal People” and “Conversations with Friends,” received the award for her latest book, “Intermezzo.”
Alex Bowler, publisher at Faber & Faber and Rooney’s editor, collected the award on her behalf at the 2025 Sky Arts Awards ceremony at London’s Roundhouse on Tuesday, and read a statement from the author in which she said she was “touched and grateful” for the recognition and regretted she was unable to attend in person.
“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,” she added.
