The James Joyce Centre in Dublin is delighted to be celebrating the Bloomsday Festival from June 11 through June 16 this year.

Bloomsday celebrates the date on which James Joyce’s "Ulysses" is set, June 16, 1904. This year marks the 120th anniversary of Leopold Bloom’s adventures. 

“Ulysses” was first published in 1922 and has since been hailed as one of the most important works of literature in history. 

The novel follows Leopold Bloom as he walks the streets of Dublin, mapped in incredible detail, as he seeks to avoid going home to his wife, Molly Bloom. It is a story that crystalizes Dublin and presents it to the world in true detail, no mean feat considering Joyce wrote the book while in exile (Joyce seldom returned to Ireland after leaving in 1904, and never returned after 1912). 

Exploring the deepest dreams and darkest fears of Leopold Bloom, “Ulysses” is a book that explores how it is to be human. 

The James Joyce Centre's Bloomsday Festival returns this year to celebrate the favourite holiday of all Joyceans. It is one of Dublin’s biggest festivals, with over 100 events around Dublin, and many more around Ireland! Given the scope and focus on a particular novel and city, it is an unparalleled cultural event. 

Each year, the day begins with the famous Bloomsday breakfast, this year hosted at Belvedere College. Throughout the city there are recreations of different scenes of "Ulysses."

At 8 am at the James Joyce Tower, there is a reading of the opening chapter of “Ulysses,” Telemachus, followed later in the day by Molly Bloom’s closing soliloquy.

Anyone hungry can stop by Davy Byrne’s pub (frequented by Leopold Bloom himself) around lunchtime for the now-famous gorgonzola sandwiches and a glass of burgundy.

At Glasnevin Cemetery there is a recreation of the funeral of Paddy Dignam.

For those looking to become more acquainted with the great novel, there are a great many different walking tours around the city on June 11. The James Joyce Centre conducts two tours, Introducing Joyce’s Dublin and Footsteps of Leopold Bloom. There are further tours of the Monto (famous Edwardian red light district) and the south inner city.

Finally, Bloomsday is a day when the city fills with music and performances. There are theatrical adaptions of scenes from "Ulysses" at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dalkey Castle, and the James Joyce Centre, as well as community events organized locally in Rathgar, Ringsend, Blackrock, and Drumcondra.

There are more than 100 events throughout Dublin during the Festival.

The full Bloomsday Festival programme can be accessed here at BloomsdayFestival.ie.

Lady revellers at Bloomsday in Dublin. (James Joyce Centre)
2Gallery

Lady revellers at Bloomsday in Dublin. (James Joyce Centre)

Full list of Bloomsday 2024 events at The James Joyce Centre in Dublin:

  • June 5: Welcome O Joyce (Theatre; Gorman/Gunning) Free 
  • June 7: Dubliners Dilemma (Theatre; Gorman/Gunning) €15 
  • June 11: John, May, James and Me (Theatre) €15 
  • June 11: Modality of the Visible Ulysses VR Exhibition (Exhibition) Free 
  • June 11: Joyce’s Dubliners Interpreted by Song (Musical Performance; Hibsen) €20 
  • June 11 - 16: Ulysses: An Odyssey (Art Exhibition; Freeman) Free 
  • June 11 - 16: Introducing Joyce’s Dublin (Walking Tour) €20/15 
  • June 11 - 16: Footsteps of Leopold Bloom (Walking Tour) €20/15 
  • June 11 - 16: Ulysses Illustrations (Exhibition; Rousseau) Free 
  • June 12: Finnegans Wakeshop (Reading/Lecture; Des Gunning) Free 
  • June 13: Poems Ago (Musical Performance) €12 
  • June 13: “Flowers of Sleep”: Bringing Paddy Dignam from Sandymount to Glasnevin (Lecture; Dr. Patrick Callan) Free 
  • June 14: Berenice Abbott, Joyce and the Creative Women (Lecture; AG Norton) €15
  • June 15: The Other Mrs Joyce on the Day Before Bloomsday (Reading; Mary Morrissy) €10 
  • June 15: James Joyce & Antonio Smareglia, His Composer Friend (Musical Performance) €15 
  • June 16: Breathe and Bloom (Yoga) €10 
  • June 16: Midday Mumming Madness (Theatre) Free 
  • June 16: A Blooming Great Day: Reading and Workshop (Children’s Event; Úna Woods) €10 
  • June 16: Bloomsday Afternoon Tea Bus Tour €10-54 
  • June 16: Counterparts & A Little Cloud (Theatre; Volta Theatre Company) €20 
  • June 16: Strings in the Earth and Air: The Musical World of James Joyce (Musical Performance/Reading) €20 
  • June 16: Bloomsday Readings and Songs Free

Related: Books, Dublin