Why Sally Rooney Is Holding Back On Adapting Her Third Book Into ...

Sally Rooney, the critically acclaimed writer, is the brainchild behind two of the most famous books of the 21st century, Conversations With Friends and Normal People. Both works of fiction have also been adapted into widely known TV series. The adaptation of the latter earned the 33-year-old Irish author major commercial success and a large fan following, and was (in part) responsible for launching the acting careers of the show's leading actors, Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, following it's release in April 2020.

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But with the launch of her fourth book, Intermezzo, out on Tuesday, Rooney has revealed that she hasn't yet accepted any offers to adapt her third book, Beautiful World, Where Are You into a TV series.

During a recent interview with The New York Times, the writer stated that she currently has no plans to turn the book into a series 'No. So far I have decided not to accept any offers to option the rights for that book,' she admitted.

'I felt like it was just time to take a break from that and let the book be its own thing for a while.'

The writer's first time writing a screenplay was for Normal People, which she was heavily involved in adapting for television, alongside the series' screenwriter Alice Birch, and directors Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald.

Rooney, who has been dubbed 'the voice of a generation' and 'Salinger for the Snapchat generation', given the cult like following that her work has amassed, also discussed why she didn't regret not being involved in the production process of Conversations With Friends, starring Joe Alwyn and Jemima Kirke.

'The experience of working on the first one had been, in so many ways, amazing — the team of people involved in it,' she said. 'But it did also feel like a really big job. Then, when the show was broadcast, that felt like a lot in terms of the amount of discourse that it generated and the amount of media attention. I felt that world was not where I belonged. I felt like, OK, now I know that my books are where I belong, and that’s all that I want to be doing.'

She also discussed how her priorities have changed, noting: 'The reason that I chose not to be so involved in the second adaptation was because I was working on what became my third novel [Beautiful World, Where Are You].'

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney is available to purchase now.

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