Overview

Sally Rooney (born 1990 or 1991) is an Irish author. She is best known for her novels Conversations with Friends (2017), Normal People (2018), Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021), and Intermezzo (2024). Her novels have received critical acclaim, sold millions of copies, and been translated into many languages.

Works and adaptations

Normal People was published by Faber & Faber in 2018. It won the Costa Book Award and the Irish Book Award in 2018 and the Encore Award in 2019, and it was adapted into a television miniseries in 2020. Conversations with Friends was adapted into a television miniseries in 2022. Beautiful World, Where Are You was released in 2021 and was a New York Times and IndieBound bestseller. Intermezzo, published in 2024, follows two brothers in Dublin and rural Ireland and became the fastest-selling book in Ireland that year.

Advocacy and controversy

Rooney has described herself as a feminist and a Marxist, and much of her work addresses related topics. She is a prominent advocate of Palestinian liberation and of the Palestine Action group. Her support for Palestine Action has led to her being banned in the United Kingdom from public speaking and from receiving royalties for her works. The reported controversy centers on her statement that she would donate book royalties to Palestine Action, which her publisher Faber & Faber said meant it could not sell her novels in the UK.