Vol. 5 No. 1 (2026): Double Space 2025-2026

Now on its fifth publication, this Spring 2026, Double Space prides itself in showcasing the academic excellence of undergraduate students in the UCC English Department. The academic and creative work presented in this year’s issue has been recognised under the UCC Undergraduate Award, the Patricia Coughlan Award, the Louise Clancy Memorial Prize and the Eoin Murray Memorial Prize, showcasing a wide range of work spanning across time periods, topics, and media.

 

This year, our chosen theme is “Perspectives”, which includes an extensive array of topics that each essay explores in detail. We aim to showcase often-debated opinions and interpretations of texts such as American Psycho, Dawn or The Haunting. This theme allows the authors to share their findings and takes on feminism and gender, politics, and the anxieties that such topics have reflected in literature over the years. As our society changes, so do our attitudes towards certain issues, as well as our perspectives on historical events and humanity as a whole. Technological advancement and changes in social structure throughout human history have produced unique people with distinct mindsets, and sharing these perspectives with one another allows us to better our society and define each person as an individual. The order of the essays reflects their respective topics and juxtaposes differing opinions from separate authors, thus allowing the readers to gather the information provided and form their own argument. 

 

We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to create this year’s edition of Double Space along with an exceptional team of authors and editors who are the backbone of this journal. We would like to thank you all for your hard work and cooperation, and congratulate the contributors on their wonderful essays. We would also like to thank the lecturers who provided answers to our difficult questions about must-read books, which will hopefully help and inspire future writers to share their work and be included in Double Space. A special thanks to Dr Heather Laird and Dr Miranda Corcoran for establishing this wonderful publication and for all the help they provided our team along the way. Finally, thank you to the ever-dedicated Double Space team—copy editors, social media managers, web designers and liaisons, you have done an exceptional job, we couldn’t have done it without you!

 

We hope you enjoy reading Double Space as much as we enjoyed working on it!

 

–Your Co-Editors-in-Chief, Vilma and Michal

 

Published: 2026-05-20