James Joyce Statue in Dublin City
DUBLIN CELEBRATES ULYSSES AND NATIVE SON JAMES JOYCE
Dublin, Ireland is gearing up for massive literary festivities this year, as the city celebrates the centenary of James Joyce's novel, Ulysses, first published on February 2, 1922. Hailed as a masterpiece work of fiction by literary critics everywhere, Ulysses is set in Dublin and revolves around a single day in the life of Leopold Bloom on June 16, 1904.
This program promises events, readings, food and walking tours, exhibitions, music, theatre and more, as Dubliners celebrate the novel that elevated Joyce into the pantheon of the greatest writers of all time.
Trinity College, Dublin City
Here are just some of the spring activities being planned:
The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) is launching Ulysses 100, a new digital platform and guide to the international events celebrating the Joycean centenary, and alongside online exhibits, articles and films, it will also feature introductions to the book. Branded as MoLI in homage to Molly Bloom, Joyce's heroine in Ulysses, the museum also has the very first printed copy of the novel.
Ulysses by James Joyce
The James Joyce Centre is a stunning Georgian townhouse that includes the original door from No. 7 Eccles Street, Leopold Bloom's address in Ulysses. The Centre has on display "Painting Ulysses," an exhibition of paintings by Aidan Hickey charting the 18 episodes of Ulysses.
The Centre also hosts the annual Bloomsday Festival, a major literary event that brings thousands together from around the world for readings, concerts, pub crawls and enlightening fun all around. This year the festival leads up to Bloomsday on June 16, and features music, tours, theatre and talks in historic locations from the novel.
Bloomsday Festival in Dublin
Other iconic Dublin spots marking the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses will include the James Joyce Tower in Sandycove and Davy Byrnes Pub, immortalized in the novel.
And finally, scholars, writers and visitors from around the world are flocking to Dublin this spring, as Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin host the 28th International James Joyce Symposium from June 12-18.
DUBLIN: A CITY OF LITERATURE
James Joyce is just one of the many gifted writers who proudly called Dublin home. In fact, Dublin is one of only 42 cities designated the prestigious UNESCO Cities of Literature around the world, hailed for its numerous poets, novelists, essayists and playwrights, bookstores and colleges, book festivals and literary activities.
A Quiet Read at Johnnie Foxes Pub
In addition to celebrating Joyce and Ulysses in 2022, Dublin is also getting ready to celebrate another Dublin writer, Bram Stoker, whose Gothic horror novel Dracula was published 125 years ago this year. Stoker's thriller, published on May 26, 1897, has stood the test of time and it spawned an entire horror novel genre.
That is why this year's annual Bram Stoker Festival will be extra special. The celebration of the life and works of the acclaimed writer in his birthplace takes place over Halloween weekend, October 29-31, 2022, and promises to be a real thriller!
St. Stephens Green, Dublin
Ireland itself has produced four Nobel Prize winners in literature: William Butler Yeats in 1923, George Bernard Shaw in 1925, Samuel Beckett in 1969 and Seamus Heaney in 1995. For more information on Ireland, visit ireland.com, or better yet, hop on a flight and experience it all first-hand.
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