Founded in 1845 UCC is one of Ireland’s oldest institutions of higher education. UCC is a comprehensive research-intensive institution comprising four academic Colleges, delivering a rich tradition of collaborative teaching, research and scholarship that has true global impact.
With the introduction of a new university structure in 1908, Queens College Cork became University College Cork. Cork University Press (CUP) was first established by Professor Alfred O’Rahilly, Registrar (1920-43) and President (1943-54) of University College Cork (UCC).
Cork University Press began publishing in 1925 and is the oldest university press in Ireland.
Cork University Press aims to stimulate Irish learning by reflecting distinctive and distinguished scholarship in its lists. Its philosophy has been to encourage a broad spectrum of debate in the field of Irish Studies by publishing research which engages with contemporary cultural debate. Owing to the spread of Irish Studies in third level (university) institutions during recent decades, throughout North America, Europe and Australia, research in the field has increased in depth and range. Our list reflects this growth in its engagement with a variety of discourses.
While the Press specializes in the broad field of Irish Cultural Studies, its subject range can extend across the fields of music, art history, literary criticism and poetry. The focus of our list is however in the areas of Irish cultural history, archaeology and landscape studies.
A number of our titles are viewed by critics as ground-breaking in their contribution to the field, in particular the award winning Atlas Series including but not limited to The Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, The Atlas of the Irish Revolution, The Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape and other titles including The Companion to Irish Traditional Music, the Critical Conditions series, and most notably Volumes IV and V of the Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions.
The Press publishes approximately 15 books a year and has an extensive backlist of previously published titles. All Cork University Press titles are rigorously peer-reviewed and edited.
Cork University Press is a member of the Irish Publishers Association, Cle, and is an affiliate member of the American Association for University Presses
