The Kells Arts Club is proud to host the Bloomsday Joycean Breakfast on Sunday, June 16th at 10.30am at the Bookmarket Café. Join us for a Joycean breakfast with songs and poetry. Dress up in your finest Edwardian attire!
We will meet at Parnell Garden at 10.30am. Bookmarket at 11am. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/KellsArtsClub/.
Tickets are €13 for members, €17 for non-members.
Join us for a special Bloomsday Breakfast at the St. Andrews Resource Centre at Friday the 14th of June at 8am.
We will serve breakfast along with songs and readings.
Feel free to dress up in your best Bloomsday attire!
“A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” Stephen Dedalus, Ulysses
The James Joyce Centre in Dublin and The James Joyce Society in New York welcome you to celebrate Bloomsday at The Portal on Sunday, June 16th at 3pm in what is definitely a Bloomsday first. Join readers in Dublin and New York as we read and act out passages from Ulysses. New Yorkers will see “the heart of the Hibernian metropolis” in real time as Dubliners show them a close-up view of Bloomsday. Dress up in your finest Edwardian apparal for this unprecedented transatlantic and teleporting event!
The Portal is located on O’Connell and North Earth Street next to the James Joyce Statue in Dublin and at Flatiron Plaza, 23rd and 5th in New York.
Join the Dunshaughlin Players on Bloomsday, Sunday June 16th for fun and mayham in Dunshaughlin, County Meath. The Players and friends will be acting out some of the Ulysses stories at locations on the Main Street, starting at Lidl carpark at 2pm and strolling up to the Pastoral Centre for tea/coffee and music and the Curlew Theatre’s play NORAMOLLYANNALIVIALUCIA.
Free to join. Donations are welcome!
The Dublin Sea Swimming Club invites you to drive into Ulysses (figuratively) by diving into the waters of Sandycove Beach (literally) on Bloomsday, Sunday June 16th at 10am-1pm. Join the likes of Buck Mulligan, who also swam in nearby Forty Foot in the Telemachus episode of Ulysses, and Joyce, who lived by nearby Martello Tower, which served as the basis for the Telemachus episode.
“A voice, sweettoned and sustained, called to him from the sea. Turning the curve he waved his hand. It called again. A sleek brown head, a seal’s, far out on the water, round.”
Straw hats and Joycean attire not compulsory but certainly encouraged. Let’s celebrate Bloomsday by having a swim in Joycean attire.
Read
The final lines of Molly’s soliloquy will be read by the entrance of the James Joyce Tower & Museum.
Swim
Let’s have a dive into the “snotgreen” and “scrotumtightening sea.” The swim is at your own risk! The group has no lifeguards and only arranges the meeting point. Make sure you have enough layers to keep warm before and after the swim, bring something warm to drink too. Some wear wetsuits, others don’t so, some want to swim a bit of distance, others just want dip and get out. It’s your swim, do what you want and meet the group after.
Eat
Having demonstrated our incredible bravery, we will continue our adventure at a local café (time and venue TBC later, will try and source one that hopefully provides Joycean fare). Eating and drinking are at your own risk too.
For more information, please visit https://www.meetup.com/dublin-sea-swimming/events/301116448/.
The event is free.
Sandymount Community Centre, Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association in partnership with Dublin City Council’s South East Area Community Team is proud to present Bloomsday Villages: Sandymount on Sunday, June 16th.
11am: Elevenses with Leopold
Venue: Sandymount Community Centre, Newbridge Avenue, Dublin 4
Enjoy an elegant start to your Bloomsday with morning coffee, croissants and a dash of gentle Joycean entertainment. €5 admission with proceeds going to the Centre. Tickets are sold at the door.
1pm: Ulysses Goes Wild in Sandymount
Meeting Point: Sandymount Green, Sandymount, Dublin 4
Join author of “Wild Dublin”, Eanna Ní Lamhna, star of RTÉ’s The Mooney Show and Virgin Media’s The Six O’Clock Show, for a 60-minute nature tour inspired by the “marriage of trees” from the Cyclops episode of Ulysses. This event will be followed by some street theatre in the village. The event is free and open to the public.
It’s time to don that boater hat and join us for an afternoon of readings and songs from Ulysses as part of the Bloomsday Festival’s flagship event Readings and Songs at Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, 3pm – 6pm on 16 June 2024.
A long-standing and treasured tradition, this afternoon of songs, readings and performances from Ulysses in the heart of the city is an essential part of the Bloomsday experience.
This year, we have actor and writer Tara Flynn at the helm in Temple Bar, to introduce a fabulously chaotic cast of noted Irish actors, musicians, pundits and everyone in between, who will read extracts from Ulysses. The readings will bring to life Joyce’s immortal words, from his description of Dublin’s “snotgreen sea”, to Molly Bloom’s famous “yes”.
This year’s esteemed readers are acclaimed actors Nora-Jane Noone, Gerry O’Brien, Eimear Keating, Geraldine McAlinden, Rachel Wren, Margaret McAuliffe, Steve Hartland, and Mary Murray and writers Conner Habib and Dermot Bolger. The event will also feature the celebrated singer-songwriter David Keenan and the comedic brilliance of Katherine Lynch and Goblins, Goblins, Goblins.
Musicians Bryan Mullen, Brian Gilligan and Camille O’Sullivan will grace the stage, bringing the music that inspired Joyce back to life. The celebrations will culminate with a reading by beloved Irish author Marian Keyes, as she breathes life into Molly Bloom’s legendary “Yes.”
This event is kindly supported by Fáilte Ireland, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
*This is an outdoor event (the Meeting House Square Umbrellas are currently undergoing maintenance) so rain or shine please dress for the weather.
Ballsbridge Living Tidy Towns in partnership with Dublin City Council’s South East Area Community Team is proud to present Bloomsday Villages: Ballsbridge on Sunday, June 16th.
3pm: Ulysses Goes Wild in Herbert Park
Meeting Point: Outside Lolly and Cooks Café, Herbert Park, Dublin 4
Get closer to the wild side of Ballsbridge with Eanna Ní Lamhna, star of RTÉ’s The Mooney Show and Virgin Media’s The Six O’Clock Show, for a nature tour inspired by the “marriage of trees” from the Cyclops episode of Ulysses. Tour to last 60 minutes.
4pm: Seven Scenes from Ulysses
Meeting Point: The west/Donnybrook end of the Pond, Herbert Park, Dublin 4
Watch Ulysses come to life on the streets of Ballsbridge in the company of Leopold Bloom, Molly Bloom and Stephen Dedalus!
The events are free and open to the public.
The Ulysses80 Book Club invites readers from all over the world to revel in Ulysses by reading it together over a span of 80 days.
At 7am on each day of the project starting on June 1st, a message will be emailed as well as posted on its website and social media pages giving the first few words and the last few words of the section to be read that day, together with the line numbers (from the Gutenberg Press edition). The relevant page numbers of several printed editions will be posted on the website as well.
People will be invited to contribute their thoughts, comments and insights about the day’s section using the hashtag #Ulysses80 to curate the conversations. If we start Episode 1, Telemachus, at the Sandycove Martello Tower on June 1st, then, by Bloomsday on June 16th we’ll be towards the middle of Episode 8 Lestrygonians and ‘in’ Davy Byrne’s Pub in time for the famous lunch of a Gorgonzola sandwich with a glass of burgundy. On that day, everyone in Ulysses80 across the globe will be invited to raise a glass together to celebrate reaching the quarterway mark, as we head in towards the more challenging episodes of the book. Having a whole community of fellow readers regularly chipping in their comments and observations will surely help us all through the more obtuse sections.
The last episode “Penelope,” Molly’s wonderful eight-sentence soliloquy, will take about ten days in August when many of us will be on holidays, or at least taking things a bit easier. Day 80, the last day of the journey when we can all say Yes Yes Yes with great relief and celebration, falls on August 19th, the date of publication of the real letter on foot and mouth by Joyce’s friend Blackwood Price alluded to in Episode 2, Nestor. In Ulysses, everything is connected and disconnected…
This journey is for everyone, not just academics. The whole aim of the project to help democratise Ulysses: to bring it to people who thought they would never have the interest, patience or time to read the whole book. Hopefully, readers from all walks of life with all sorts of reading interests – as well as people who read few books – will find lots to please, intrigue, annoy, and stimulate them during the 80 days via its virtual chats and conversation at Ulysses80. And maybe a whole lot of people will finally get to finish the book so many have dipped in and out of so many times but never got to the end of.
Hodges Figgis (which is referenced in Ulysses) and Books Upstairs are partners in the initiative. They sell several editions of Ulysses as well as many of the recommended resources available to help the average reader negotiate their way through one of the most notoriously difficult books in the English language.
To join Ulysses80 or to find out more, please visit their website at https://ulysses80.ie/. You can also follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
Celebrate Bloomsday at Buck Mulligan’s in Dún Laoighaire!
This year’s Bloomsday collides with our music showcase on Sundays, meaning there will be a line up of unique and exciting talents in traditional dress. We have just booked “The Gramophone Social” from 1pm-3pm, playing genuine original records from the early 1900s.
The day will feature some exciting signature cocktails including the ‘Nora’, our gin and elderflower sour to add to the festivities. We are also giving away pints for the customers in dress and will have prizes for best dressed.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Balloonatics are back once again on June 16th and will be spanning the day with onlocation recreations of Ulysses in Dublin City Centre. This year’s performers are: Mark Wale, Chris Bilton, Paul O’Hanrahan and musician, John Goudie. Join us on Bloomsday throughout the day: we are presenting three theatrical walks (no booking required) and our traditional evening performance in Wynn’s Hotel for which advance booking is advised.
Street Theatre Tours:
8 am Breakfast at the Blooms
Meet at the corner of Eccles and Dorset Street.
Bloom prepares separate breakfasts for himself and his wife and takes a stroll to the nearby butcher. This tour follows the ‘Calypso’ episode of Ulysses, chapter 4.
10.30 am Bloom collects a secret letter
Meet at Westland Row, opposite Pearse Station entrance, under the bridge.
This tour follows Bloom’s journey to church and chemist in the ‘Lotus-Eaters’ episode of Ulysses, chapter 5.
3 p.m. Bloom’s afternoon dodges
Meet on the wide side of Grattan Bridge over the Liffey.
This tour visits sites linked with the ‘Sirens’ and ‘Cyclops’ episodes of Ulysses, chapters 11 and 12, and explores Capel Street’s Joyce connections.
(Street theatre tours are free of charge; cash contribution at end appreciated)
Joyce Performance and Readings:
7.30 pm Humid Nightblue Fruit
Wynn’s Hotel, Lower Abbey Street
Barcaroles and Barreltones: Men in the Ormond – A dramatised reading adapted from the ‘Sirens’ episode from Ulysses by Paul O’Hanrahan, performing with Mark Wale, Chris Bilton and musician John Goudie. End your Bloomsday evening at this convivial Joyce gathering in this historic hotel. The performance will be followed by audience readings, all welcome to participate.
Tickets €13 plus booking fee
(€15 on door, if not sold out)
For more information contact:
Facebook: Paul O’Hanrahan, Balloonatics Theatre Company
www.balloonatics.tumblr.com
“the thoroughfare hitherto known as Cow Parlour off Cork Street be henceforth designated Boulevard Bloom.”
So says former Lord Mayor of Dublin Timothy Harrington in James Joyce’s Ulysses. And who are we to object?
On Thursday 13th of June, ‘The Tenters Celebrated’ heritage group would like to cordially invite you to join us in Cow Parlour off Cork Street in Dublin 8 for our Boulevard Bloom event. The morning will start with a brief introduction to the history of Cow Parlour, which has been in existence for at least 300 years. We will then be joined by Mr Harrington, who will propose the renaming of Cow Parlour to ‘Boulevard Bloom’. We are confident that there will be no objections to the proposal and for it to be carried unanimously. After the official business is completed, we will have a cuppa and cake, seated at linen covered tables more suited to the new Boulevard status of Cow Parlour. Music and singing will of course be the order of the morning.
Come join us at the James Joyce Centre on Tuesday, June 11th at 6pm for the formal launch of this year’s Bloomsday Festival. The Bloomsday Festival is in full-swing this year with close to one-hundred separate events on June 11th-16th throughout Dublin. Our reception will feature talks and readings (and some wine!) as we celebrate another year of Bloomsday celebrations. We will be joined by British artist Jo Hamill as she introduces our new art exhibition Gutter Words. French artist Rémi Rousseau will also be on hand as he introduces his new art exhibition Ulysses: Illustrations. Join festival goers around Dublin and the world as we kick off this extraordinary time of the year!
The event is free but booking is essential.
Happenings Ireland in partnership with the James Joyce Centre is proud to present Breathe and Bloom, a truly unique Bloomsday celebration of health, wellness, and yoga (yes, really!) on Sunday, June 16th at 11am-1:30pm in Brighton Square.
James Joyce was born in 1882 at 41 Brighton Square. What better way to celebrate Bloomsday than by gathering where it all began! Breathe and Bloom is a unique blend of traditional Bloomsday celebrations and wellness exercises.
Ulysses is not often thought about in terms of health and fitness but the novel provides a glimpse into the burgeoning wellness movement that would develop extensively in the 20th century. Leopold Bloom is conscious of his body and the need to maintain it through exercise and diet, even if he is not so vigilant in doing so! “Got up wrong side of the bed,” he thinks to himself. “Must begin again those Sandow’s exercises.” His wife, Molly, also has this on her mind: “I must do a few breathing exercises[.] I wonder is that antifat any good might overdo it.” The event will show this often-overlooked facet of Joyce’s work by combining a class by Yoga in the Park with a talk about health and fitness in Joyce’s work as well as old-fashioned readings and songs!
The event will start with Yoga in the Park’s regularly-scheduled class with Jo Collins from 11am to 12pm. It will then be followed by a half-hour talk about fitness, wellness and Joyce by Dr. Conor Heffernan, Lecturer in Sport Sociology at Ulster University. This talk will feature demonstrations of gentle stretching, dumbbell raising and deep breathing by Jo Collins. Audience participation is encouraged but not mandatory. After the talk, the park will host music and readings of Ulysses. The audience is welcome to bring food and drink to make a nice picnic!
Schedule:
11-12: Happenings Yoga’s Yoga in the Park class with Jo Collins.
12-12:30: Talk and yoga demonstration by Dr. Conor Heffernan and Jo Collins about fitness, mindfullness, and yoga in Ulysses.
12:30-1:30: Music and readings.
The Yoga in the Park class is €10. Dr. Heffernan’s talk and the music and readings are free to the public. More information about the event can be found here.
Many thanks to the residents of Brighton Square for hosting the event.
Come enjoy an afternoon of yoga, mindfulness and fun in what is a Bloomsday Festival first!
Glasnevin Cemetery has been celebrating Bloomsday since 2010 and it is now a firm favourite for Bloomsday pilgrims. On June 16th 1904, Glasnevin was the venue for the funeral of the fictional Paddy Dignam, attended by Joyce’s protagonist Leopold Bloom in Ulysses. This year to celebrate this historic date, Experience Glasnevin will host a performance of the ‘Hades’ episode of Ulysses performed by the Joycestagers and a Joycean tour of the cemetery itself. Explore the ‘underworld’ of Ulysses in one of the most popular Bloomsday events!
11am: Reenactment of the funeral procession of Paddy Dignam from the ‘Hades’ episode. Free to attend. No ticket is necessary.
12pm: A Joycean Tour of the heart of the Hibernian necropolis, Glasnevin Cemetery, which has many significant links to Joyce’s life and writing. Tickets are required: €14 general, €12 concession.
“He entered Davy Byrnes. Moral pub. He doesn’t chat. Stands a drink now and then. But in a leap year once in four. Cashed a cheque for me once.” Ulysses
Davy Byrnes pub opened its doors in 1889. Thirty-one years later it was thrust in to international fame with the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses when Leopold Bloom visits for a glass of burgundy and a gorgonzola cheese sandwich in the ‘Lestrygonians’ episode. Bloom stands and chats with the owner, Davy Byrne, about life and his appetite before continuing on his odyssey. Ever since Bloomsday has been celebrated, Davy Byrnes has been at its heart.
This year, the iconic pub will be hosting an afternoon of festivities to mark the day with music, performances, and readings. Bring Ulysses to life (and order a gorgonzola or two) in this historic city centre environment!
The event is free. No booking required.
Further information: https://davybyrnes.com/
Come join us at the James Joyce Centre for a unique experience at Finnegans Wakeshop.
Carol Wade of Art of the Wake and Des Gunning of Joyceborough will look back at ‘FW85,’ the 85th anniversary of the publication of Finnegans Wake, and a headsup on plans to mark ‘Mamalujo 101’ in 2025. Des Gunning has been running the Joyceborough Finnegans Wake Reading Group for fifteen years and Carol Wade has been illustrating the Wake for as long. This year, they and others combined forces for the first time to mark the occassion of FW85.
In Finnegans Wakeshop, they will reflect in that experience and look ahead to the coming 15 years, which will bring us to FW100. A copiously-illustrated with live performance of the text and plenty of audience participation. A short film, ‘On the Calends of Mars,’ will be screened.
The event is free but booking is essential. No previous Wake-reading experience required. Come enjoy this uniquely Joycean experience!
Image from Art of the Wake by Carol Wade.
The Ringsend & District Historical Society in partnership with Dublin City Council’s South East Area Community Team is proud to present Bloomsday Villages: Ringsend/Irishtown on June 15th and 16th. Ringsend is where James Joyce and Nora Barnacle had their first date on June 16th, 1904 — the date on which Ulysses is set. What better way to celebrate Bloomsday than to spend it where it all began!
Saturday, June 15th
11 am: Ringsend Library
A lecture by the DCC Historian in Residence Cormac Moore, ‘The Life of Constance Markievicz’
12pm: Ringsend Library
A walking Tour with Eddie Bohan, ‘In The Footsteps of Joyce 1904.’ Departs & ends at the Ringsend Library.
1.30pm: Bus Tour
A 45-minute bus tour courtesy of the Big Bus Open Top. The tour takes place in Sandymount Strand, the Green and Irishtown.
3pm: Ringsend Library
An outdoor ballad/folksong session.
Sunday, June 16th
10.30am: Thorncastle Street
A horse and carriage parade to Ringsend Park, departing from Thorncastle Street. Tour route: Irishtown Road, Pembroke Street, Strasburg Terrace with a Ulysess performance, Ringsend Park, return via Caroline Row, Fitzwilliam Street to the RICC Centre. The event will feature the unveiling of a plaque and seat dedicated to James Joyce and Nora Barnacle commemorating their first date with thanks to Dublin City Council.
12.30pm: RICC Centre
The Bloomsday Brunch featuring live music, food and period dress.
4 pm: CYMS Hall, Ringsend
The Writers Adventure, ‘Remembering Ringsend.’ A short story and poetry prize presentation. Books tokens (€200, €100 & €75) awarded courtesy of Savvi, Irishtown.
The events are free and open to the public.
in association with the
James Joyce Centre
brings you
‘Strings in the earth and air…’
The Musical World of James Joyce
with
Nicole Rourke (actor-writer)
&
Benjamin Dwyer (guitarist-composer)
Bloomsday 16 June 2024, 8.00pm
Join us in a celebration of Joyce’s fascination with music. With excerpts from the early poetry collection, Chamber Music, through the melancholic stories of Dubliners, to the ornate worlds of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, Rourke & Dwyer offer a captivating programme of Joyce’s musical obsessions.
The show includes excerpts of ‘raw sensuality’ from Nuala O’Connor’s celebrated book Nora: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce; and it features the premiere of a new text by Nicole Rourke exploring the sensual worlds of Nora, Molly and Joyce.
Following the show, Director of the James Joyce Centre, Darina Gallagher, will host a Q&A with Nicole and Benjamin on the role of music in Joyce’s life and writing, and their creation of the programme. Wine will be served.
Tickets are €20.
“I took the sounds of my city Dublin, its bar talk, its street noise and turned it into language.” James Joyce
Stories and Songs Of Dublin’s Writers: Wilde, Behan, O Casey, Joyce by Gary Brown is a one hour show of laughs, songs, culture and craic. Dublin is famous for its writers and its contribution to global literature. The show presents the history of some of its writers, quotes and songs from them. It deals with their lives in Dublin and abroad. Hear about the lives and work of Brendan Behan, James Joyce, Sean O’Casey, Oscar Wilde and many others. The show stars comedian and actor Gary Cooke.
Showtimes are June 12th, 13th, and 14th at 3-4pm.* Tickets are €20.
*The show runs June, July and August.
On this special 120th Bloomsday anniversary, step into “Telemachus,” the opening episode of Ulysses, in the very setting that inspired it.
Directed by Liam Hourican and starring Oliver Flitcroft, Darragh Shannon, Daniel Mahon and Geraldine Plunkett, this new adaptation will transport you back to 1904 and the intense, impecunious lifestyle of two young men with literary ambitions.
Set in the iconic Martello Tower and environs, this is an exuberant, ambient production that will faithfully recreate the first episode of Ulysses.
Performances:
June 15th: 8am, 9:30am, 11am, and 2pm
June 16th: 9:30am and 11am. *At 9am, An Cathaoirleach Denis O’Callaghan raises the flay to commemorate the 120 year anniversary of Bloomsday.
Tickets are €15.
The James Joyce Centre is proud to present Welcome O Joyce, a staged reading by Declan Gorman of a new performance to mark 100 years since the first appearance in print of an extract from Finnegans Wake.
Welcome O Joyce (co-written by Declan Gorman and Des Gunning) has been specially commissioned for the James Joyce Association of Ottawa and the James Joyce Centre, Dublin, and is the curtain-raiser to this year’s international Bloomsday Festival. It is a montage of pieces from the four great prose works of Joyce, commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the first appearance in print of an extract of what would eventually become Finnegans Wake (1939). The 1924 ‘Mamalujo’ fragment is woven into an entertaining short presentation that includes a comic prologue and vivid scenes from Ulysses (1922), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), and Dubliners (1914)
Declan Gorman is a highly regarded writer, director and performer. His previous Joyce performances The Dubliners Dilemma (2012) and Falling Through the Universe (2022) have toured widely in Ireland and overseas. In the week of Bloomsday, Declan will travel on to Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario with a selection of his Joyce works.
Praise for previous work
“Gorman holds the audience enraptured throughout with a truly mesmerising performance. This original adaptation is by no means exclusively for die-hard Joyce fans, making a brilliant introduction for newcomers!” Metro Herald, Dublin
“Gorman’s charming play dramatises clearly how Joyce’s writing has embedded itself deeply in Irish culture. His subtle performance reminds us clearly what a masterwork this story is.” Irish Independent
The event is free but booking is essential.
Join Lua McIlraith and The Lilliput Players for “A Taste of Joyce” outside the James Joyce Tower on Bloomsday for an afternoon of readings, poems, dramatisations of the works of the legendary author and songs associated with him. Immerse yourself in the world of James Joyce as we bring his words to life at a unique location.
Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just curious to learn more, this event promises to be a memorable experience!. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to celebrate one of the greatest literary figures of all time. If you were ever too scared of Joyce, you need no longer be. See you there!
There will be both seating and standing places available. Tickets are free but booking is essential.
It seems like just another ordinary day for Rosie and her grandad. But as soon as they step outside, they find themselves on a blooming great adventure around Dublin on the 16th of June, 1904!
Join us at the James Joyce Centre on Bloomsday for a children’s event of fun, mischief, and Joyce! Author and illustrator Úna Woods will read from her new children’s book A Blooming Great Day (The O’Brien Press) and lead a drawing workshop. The children will draw scenes from the book and design their own hats! This is a great way for children to be introduced to Joyce and to partake in Dublin’s great literary tradition.
Tickets are €10 with special 2-for-1 sale.
Úna Woods is a children’s book illustrator and author who lives in Dublin with her husband and two children and their ginger cat. Her previous books include Have You Seen the Dublin Vampire? and A Spooktacular Place to Be, both published by The O’Brien Press. Úna loves working with bright colours and patterns. She also loves reading and running.
Join us at the James Joyce Centre on the eve of Bloomsday as award-winning novelist Mary Morrissy talks about and reads from Penelope Unbound (Banshee Press), her recently published counterfactual novel about Nora Barnacle. In it, she splits the Joyces up and gives Nora a wholly different life without him; she also plays matchmaker for Joyce and finds him a new wife. This event is about her.
On their arrival in Trieste in 1904, James Joyce left Norah Barnacle outside a railway station while he went to scare up money. He got embroiled in a fight with a couple of sailors and was locked up for his troubles. A penniless Norah was left alone for almost an entire day and night sitting on their suitcases at the station in a city where she knew no one and where she didn’t speak the language. In real life, Norah waited for him. This novel asks – what if she hadn’t? In Penelope Unbound, one of our greatest living novelists weaves a spellbinding speculative history. By unhooking Norah from her famous husband, Morrissy gives her a compelling new voice, with heartbreak and humanity all her own. Sensual, inventive and uproariously funny, Penelope Unbound reimagines a Joycean heroine for the 21st century.
Tickets are €10.
Praise for Penelope Unbound:
“A novel of great brilliance and inventiveness, a remarkably – and mysteriously – moving story of what might have been. . . a stylistic tour de force that Joyce himself would surely have admired.” – John Banville, The Observer
“Given Nora’s iconic status, I’d say it took considerable courage and chutzpah to carry this novel off.” – Carlo Gebler, Irish Independent
“(a) compellingly reimagined Norah, who is, like the novel itself, richly compelling and startlingly alive” – Kevin Power, author of White City
Mary Morrissy is the author of four novels, Mother of Pearl, The Pretender, The Rising of Bella Casey and most recently, Penelope Unbound. She has also published two collections of stories, A Lazy Eye and Prosperity Drive. Her work has won her the Hennessy Prize and a Lannan Foundation Award. A member of Aosdána, she is a journalist, teacher of creative writing and a literary mentor. She blogs at https://marymorrissy.com and curates a website dedicated to the work of Dublin painter, Una Watters: https://unawattersartist.com.
Belvedere College in association with the James Joyce Centre is delighted to host the Bloomsday Breakfast on Sunday, June 16th at 8:30am and 10:30am.
Leopold Bloom is introduced in Ulysses eating his breakfast: “Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. . .” Come enjoy this unique gastroliterary tradition in Belvedere College, in the very rooms where Joyce studied from 1893 to 1898. Joyce wrote about his student days at Belvedere College throughout his life, particularly in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
You will dine in “the heart of the Hibernian metropolis,” around the corner from where Leopold and Molly Bloom had their home at 7 Eccles Street and close to where Joyce lived until he emigrated from Ireland with Nora Barnacle in 1904.
The ticket includes:
-A special Bloomsday breakfast (full-Irish with Bloom’s beloved kidneys).
-Dramatic readings and performances from Ulysses.
-Songs from Ulysses and Joyce’s other works.
There are two sittings at 8:30am and 10:30am.
Tickets are €50. To make a booking, please contact Rebecca Mills at rmills@belvederecollege.ie or +353 1 858 6644.
The James Joyce Centre welcomes you to its doors to celebrate the greatest time of the year — Bloomsday!
The James Joyce Centre is proud to organise the Bloomsday Festival on behalf of the city of Dublin. As a token of our appreciation to Dublin and all the participants of Bloomsday, we will be open free of charge on Sunday, June 16th from 9:30am to 4:30pm. Come see Leopold Bloom’s door from No. 7 Eccles Street, where it all began. Browse our exhibitions, parlour rooms, and interactive guides to Joyce’s life and work. Marvel at the beautifully preserved 18th century townhouse, a stunning example of high Georgian architecture. See the Maginni Room, named after “Mr Denis J Maginni, professor of dancing &c,” the real-life dance instructor who used the room as his dance studio and is mentioned in Ulysses! There will be readings, talks, music, children’s events, and fun throughout the day!
Feel free to dress up in your finest bowler hats and Edwardian garb as you join visitors from around the world for an unparalleled literary occasion. For more information, visit our website at www.jamesjoyce.ie.
We hope to see you there!
The Hole in the Wall pub proudly hosts the book launch of Here Comes Everybody’s Karma by Shaharee Vyaas. The subject of this book launch is the fruit of an artistic endeavor that aimed to merge the most beautiful book in English literature, The Kelmscott Chaucer, with its most enigmatic one, Finnegans Wake. In this retelling the foreign language idiosyncrasies have been replaced by their English equivalent and Joyce’s sibylline prose has been streamlined into a more fluid syntaxis. the title of this retelling and the naming of the chapters want to inspire the readers to rethink the whole tale from the perspective of the Asiatic philosophical concepts of Karma and Dharma, which are interacting cyclical principles. Information where the book can be obtained can be found here.
Attendance is free. No booking required. Copies of the book will be sold at a reduced price. The event includes a welcome drink and snack buffet.
Ulysses was finally published in book form in 1922 when, according to Fr. George O’Neill SJ, one of his teachers at Clongowes Wood College, Joyce was enjoying “regrettable celebrity.” The main response to Ulysses in Ireland was to attack it on anti-Catholic grounds. Joyce did have major issues with the Irish Catholic Church of the time but his writings were steeped in Church history, philosophy and theology, which he knew far better than the majority of Irish Catholic clerics who denounced him. Gradually, acceptance of the importance of Joyce to Irish literature became widespread, by people of all faiths and none.
Even though he does poke gentle fun at certain individuals in the Society of Jesus, his affection for the Jesuits who educated him is palpable in his writings, and so it’s fitting to bring him back home to the Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier on Gardiner Street, a location that features in much of his work. For the 120th anniversary of the first Bloomsday, actor, writer and broadcaster Gerry McArdle puts together a programme of readings from Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses which highlights the Joyce-Jesuit connections. He is joined by well known figure in Irish musical circles, Raphael Kelly, and singer Suzanne Mangan. The event is hosted and narrated by popular RTÉ newscaster Eileen Dunne, who, like the other artists involved, freely donates her time and talents.
Admission is free but donations are welcome.
Sweny’s Pharmacy is famously featured in the fifth episode of Ulysses, known as “Lotus Eaters.” This delightful little shop has survived since 1847 and today still has all its original fixtures and fittings. Now run by volunteers, Sweny’s opens its doors to welcome people on their Bloomsday adventure. Wait by the counter like Leopold Bloom, absorbing the authentic atmosphere. Watch the chemist at work with his herbs and ointments among “all his alabaster lilypots.” Pick up a bar of lemon soap (“sweet lemony wax”) that you can carry with you all day, just like Bloom. Get involved in a reading of Ulysses, enjoy a cup of tea and share epic tales about your own life. You might even get a chance to join in an Edwardian singsong.
From Monday 10 to Saturday 16 June, a performance and reading will take place in Sweny’s at 12.30pm from “Lotus Eaters.”
On Bloomsday itself, there will be merriment in this hidden Joycean gem throughout the day and into the evening, starting with a Bloomsday Breakfast from 10am at Kennedy’s Pub across the street at which there will be readings and performances.
Further information can be found on www.sweny.ie. The events are free.