It’s time to don that boater hat and and join Caitriona Balfe, Aidan Gillen, Glen Hansard, David Norris, and friends, for an evening of readings and songs from Ulysses as part of the Bloomsday Festival’s flagship event “Readings and Songs”, at 7pm on Youtube Live, on the James Joyce Centre channel on 16th June.
Bloomsday Readings and Songs is a long-standing and treasured tradition, and this year, Bloomsday 2020 will keep the tradition of Bloomsday alive by bringing us all together online.
Every Dubliner has their own story about James Joyce, and no one more so than our best-known Joycean scholar, Senator David Norris, who has been at the heart of Joyce’s Dublin for almost 60 years. Senator Norris will introduce the show, featuring a cast of noted Irish writers, actors, musicians, pundits, and everyone in between, reading 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”.
Ulysses is composed in 18 episodes mirroring Homer’s Odyssey and takes place in over 18 locations around Dublin. Experience your personal odyssey through James Joyce’s epic novel from the comfort of your home.
Writers taking part this year include Colum McCann (who has said ‘the book that I return to, when I return to Ireland, is always Ulysses), Booker Prize nominee Donal Ryan, Paul Lynch, winner of the Kerry Group Novel of Year, crime writer Tana French, Mary Costello, recently shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Award, Christine Dwyer Hickey, author of Dublin’s most recent One City One Book, and Peter Murphy, novelist and vocalist with Cursed Murphy & the Resistance. International best-selling author Douglas Kennedy will be reading with his actress daughter, Amelia Kennedy.
Going from stage to page will be chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan, Jess Kavanagh of BARQ, spoken word artist Sasha Terfous and Glen Hansard. While joining us from TV, film and the stage will be Aiden Gillen, Kate Stanley Brennan,Emmet Kirwan, performance artist Bonnie Boux and writer and director Gerard Stembridge. Bafta winner and four-time Golden Globe nominee actress, Caitriona Balfe, will be reading from Molly Bloom’s soliloquy.
Readings and Songs will take place at 7pm on Youtube Live on the James Joyce Centre channel on June 16th.
This is a free event but the organisers hope that those who watch will consider donating to one of their chosen charities: World Child Cancer, Focus Ireland and Age Action.
Discover the wealth of characters and locations offered through this annual celebration of Joyce’s novel. Encounter the reality of experience. Forge memories in the smithy of your soul that ensure that when you die, Dublin will be written on your heart.
Bloomsday’s flagship event is kindly sponsored by Dublin City Council, Failte Ireland, Dublin Unesco City of Literature and the Department of Arts Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht.
Bloomsday Readings and Songs
June 16, 2020 7 pm
