Join the Joycean celebrations at Dublin’s Bloomsday Festival
Step into the Dublin of James Joyce through the eclectic mix of over 100 events that make up the world-famous Bloomsday Festival (11–16 June), a highlight of Dublin’s cultural calendar.
Named after Leopold Bloom, the lead character in Joyce’s seminal novel Ulysses, the festival commemorates Bloom’s experiences in Dublin city on 16 June 1904.
Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature and James Joyce is one of the city’s literary giants whose influence on modern literature was profound. Every year, thousands of literary enthusiasts and fans of Joyce’s work flock to Dublin for the festival but even those who have not read Ulysses can enjoy the events which span readings, music, theatre, walking tours, films and a host of other festivities.
There is a deep connection between Dublin’s landscape and Ulysses and one of the best ways to appreciate it is on a walking tour. Bloomsday Ulysses Walking Tour: James Joyce's Dublin is a great introduction to the places and characters in the novel while those who want a more in-depth Joycean experience can book the Footsteps of Leopold Bloom Walking Tour.
A fun way to get into the spirit of the festival is to dress up, and the streets will be full of Dubliners and visitors alike in Edwardian costume. Across key Ulysses-related sites in the city, street theatre performances by Balloonatics will recreate famous scenes from the book. Among these locations is Sweny’s Pharmacy, dating from 1847, which will welcome people to enjoy a cup of tea, buy a bar of lemony soap, as Bloom did, and get involved in a reading.
Food and drink feature strongly in the novel, in particular Bloom’s breakfast, and this is recreated in special Bloomsday Breakfast events in Belvedere College, in the very rooms where Joyce studied from 1893 to 1898. The meal is accompanied by dramatic readings, songs and performances from Ulysses. Bloom’s famous lunchtime gorgonzola sandwich and glass of burgundy, which he ate in Davy Byrne’s, can also be enjoyed in the gastro pub on festival days.
The villages outside Dublin will also stage a number of events including Ulysses aWake – a play that combines drama, comedy, and music – in Blackrock, and readings, music, performances, walking tours and more in Ringsend, Sandymount, Ballsbridge, Portobello and Ranelagh. (link to event: Ulysses aWake: Bloomsday at Blackrock - Bloomsday Festival)
The festival is spearheaded by the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, where events and exhibitions run all year round with special exhibitions added during Bloomsday. Fans of Joyce can also visit the Martello Tower in Sandycove, which featured in chapter one of Ulysses and is now open to the public as a museum featuring memorabilia from the author’s life.
And to raise a glass to the great writer there are no better places than Mulligan’s, one of the oldest pubs in Dublin which dates back to 1782, and nearby Kennedy’s on Westland Row, which was established in 1850. Both watering holes were frequented by Joyce in his writerly heyday.