Book Bytes: Sally Rooney’s UK boycott, AI suspicion haunts prizes, Meera goes to court | Books and Literature News - The
Faber & Faber has stopped supplying Sally Rooney’s books in the UK after the Irish novelist pledged her royalties to Palestine Action. The UK proscribed the group in July 2025. Faber says the law prevents it from passing Rooney’s earnings to her. Palestine Action remains legal in the Republic of Ireland, and the UK Supreme Court is due to hear a challenge to the ban next month. AI is under scrutiny in literary prizes and publishing offices. Caine Prize winner Simbarashe Kundizeza denies using AI to write “The Blue Fighter,” despite a detection tool rating the story entirely machine-generated. The prize has opened an internal investigation. Publishing employees separately told WIRED that companies use AI to draft promotional copy and create cover art, sometimes without informing authors. Netflix’s new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s *East of Eden* has divided critics over its portrayal of Cathy Ames. Some see the series as softening the novel’s villain; others say it remains faithful to her character. In India, Malayalam novelist K R Meera has filed a criminal defamation complaint after Haritha Savithri alleged that Meera’s *Kalachi* copied her novel *Zin*. Meera denies the allegation. A court in Thrissur will take up the complaint on November 7.
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