Poets Patrick Kavanagh and Anthony Cronin at the church in Monkstown with the carriage in which they’d been proceeding about Dublin in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom, the main protagonist in Ulysses – 50 years after Bloom traversed the city in James Joyce’s novel.
Date: Wednesday, 16 June 1954
Pic: National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Celebrate one of the greatest works of the 20th Century with the Bloomsday Festival 2015!
The Bloomsday celebrations kick off today at 11 with The Footsteps of Leopold Bloom walking tour, starting out from the James Joyce Centre on North Great George’s Street.
The festival continues with walking tours, pub crawls, Bizarre Bloomsday Brunches and a street party on North Great George’s Street! There is even a tip of the cap to another Irish literary great on Saturday (June 15) as Yeats Day celebrates 150 years since the birth of William Butler Yeats. The day will feature a Yeats and Joyce walking tour, Georgian High Tea and an evening of Yeats and Joyce in Music, Poetry and Story, as performed by tenor Noel O’Grady and actress Kate O’Toole.
Joyce at Bloomsday Breakfast
Pic: Gerry Lundberg PR
Bloomsday itself will see the traditional breakfast events, as well as a number of guided tours throughout the day, before a special interview with Stephen Fry in conversation with David Norris at 8pm.
The official Bloomsday events are ticketed, and a number are sold out. Check the website for the full programme and to book tickets.
On Bloomsday (June 16) St. Andrew’s Church on Westland Row will be marking the occasion with an hour-long musical tribute to Ulysses from 11am. Organist in Residence Carole O’Conor and tenor Simon Heaps will perform a number of songs from the novel, including Love’s Old Sweet Song and The Holy City, to celebrate the church’s connection to the Joycean classic. The event is free and all are welcome to attend.
By Aimée Mac Leod
