Rooney's work has garnered critical acclaim and commercial success, and she is regarded as one of the foremost millennial writers.

[4] Rooney was born in Castlebar, County Mayo,[5] in 1991, where she also grew up[6] and lives today, after studying in Dublin and a stint in New York City.

[7] Her father, Kieran Rooney, worked for Telecom Éireann and her mother, Marie Farrell, ran an arts centre.

[15]Rooney signed with Tracy Bohan of the Wylie Agency, and Conversations with Friends was subject to a seven-party auction for its publishing rights, which were eventually sold in 12 countries.

[30][31] The novel grew out of Rooney's exploration of the history between the two main characters of her short story "At the Clinic", which was first published in London-based literary magazine The White Review in 2016.

[7] Normal People was made into a 12-part series as a co-production of BBC Three and the online platform Hulu, with filming taking place in Dublin and County Sligo.

[45][46] In April 2019, the New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers announced its 2019 class of fellows, which included Rooney.

The press release stated, "she will be writing a new novel under the working title Beautiful World, Where Are You, examining aesthetics and political crisis.

[9][63] Rooney declined an offer from an Israeli publisher to translate Beautiful World, Where Are You into Hebrew, citing her support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

[66] In retaliation, two Israeli bookshop chains announced a withdrawal of all of Rooney's titles from their shelves in early November.

[68] Subsequently, in a letter organized by Artists for Palestine UK, 70 writers and publishers, including Kevin Barry, Rachel Kushner, Geoff Dyer, Pankaj Mishra, Carmen Callil, and Ahdaf Soueif, said they supported Rooney’s decision.

[69] In October 2024, Rooney and over 5,500 other writers signed an open letter pledging not to work with Israeli cultural institutions.