English & Literary Society Release Caveat Lector
While November remains one of the coldest months of the year so far, The Museum of Literature in Ireland hosted a much warmer atmosphere as the English & Literary Society, or LitSoc, celebrated the release of its student publication Caveat Lector with a night of performances inside one of Dublin’s newest institutions. Speaking to the societies council, LitSoc Secretary Clodagh Johnston said “It means a lot to us because, as a small society, we know what it’s like to try and support the voices of many and to be heard within a college campus as large as UCD, and so Caveat Lector is a physical representation of us being able to represent those voices of UCD and their talent.”
Caveat Lector, which has featured every session since its inception, features over thirty pages of student literature, from poetry and fiction to essays and monologues, all written, edited and designed by the society’s members. Asked what the release of the publication means for the society each year, Savannah Murray, one of two LitSoc PR Officers, stated “We’ve been working on this for a long time so it’s kind of the culmination of a lot of things coming together for us, and also for UCD it’s really nice to have an accessible platform for writers. It’s really scary to start sending your work out to big publications, whereas with this one, you know people working on it, you know you’re not going to get laughed at for it, so it’s an easy start, a stepping stone.”
The MoLi is no stranger to students invested in the literary arts. Also known as UCD Newman House, 85-86 St. Stephen’s Street once housed the university’s precursor, the Catholic University of Ireland, founded in 1854. Many of University College Dublin’s notorious alumni were involved with the college: John Henry Newman served as Rector in No. 85 at the time of CUI’s establishment, poet Gerard Manley Hopkins resided in the building while serving as Professor in Classics, and James Joyce studied as an undergraduate here until 1902. The museum and garden, which opened in September, resides in the refurbished assembly hall of the old college, the Aula Maxima.
Caveat Lector is available to purchase from LitSoc at any of their major events over the next semester.