Some more Bloomin’ great days just ahead

THE James Joyce Tower & Museum has unveiled its special programme of events marking this year’s Bloomsday celebrations  from June 10 – 16.

Bloomsday 2017 at the iconic Southside location promises to be another terrific celebration of James Joyce and his writings – with a particular emphasis on his masterpiece ‘Ulysses’ which, of course, features the tower as the setting for its opening chapter.

The programme of free events to mark the Bloomsday Festival will commence on Saturday, June 10 and finish at the end of Friday 16.

On Saturday, June 10 ‘Music at the Tower’ sees the festival get under at 2pm with Noel O’Grady who will entertain with songs from ‘Ulysses’.

Noel, five times winner of Oireachtas na Gaeilge for traditional singing in Irish, will perform renditions of the songs associated with James Joyce.

#Noel has graced venues such as Áras an Uachtaráin and The National Concert Hall as well as celebrating Joyce, in song, internationally.

On Sunday, June 11 ‘Theatre at the Tower’ will see Caitríona Ní Threasaigh performing her wonderful interpretation of Molly Bloom in the tower’s Round Room.

Caitríona is a favourite at the tower and her portrayal of Molly Bloom is not to be missed.

Caitríona will do two performances there, at 2pm  and 4pm on Sunday where you can enjoy a truly superb portrayal of Molly Bloom’s famous soliloquy from ‘Ulysses’.

From Monday, June 12 through to Wednesday 14, you can enjoy tours of the tower when Friends of Joyce Tower Society volunteers dressed in ‘Joycean’ attire will tell stories of the tower and recount James Joyce’s time in this magical place.

On Thursday, June 15, on Bloomsday eve, at 4pm, the Friends of Joyce Tower invite you to join them in a bit of a singsong at the tower to put you in the mood for Bloomsday itself.

Finally, on Friday 16 (Bloomsday) the tower will open early (at 8am) to allow visitors to start the day as Stephen did – at the Sandycove Martello Tower.

Seamus Cannon (volunteer) has promised to open proceedings with a reading at 8am (when Buck Mulligan first began his blasphemous shave in 1904). 

There will be a terrific line-up of events including readings by Bryan Murray from ‘Ulysses’, Caitríona Ní Threasaigh will come back to perform during the day and, of course, there will be lots of chat and craic throughout.

Further details can be found at www.joycetower.ie under the ‘events’ tab.

The National Library of Ireland has also announced that it will host a series of literary events throughout the month of June to mark the occasion.

The programme will be headlined by the annual Joseph Hassett Yeats Lecture, delivered by noted academic, Bernard O’Donoghue.

Further events range from lectures and exhibition tours, plays and performances, to a special pop-up display. 

The line-up of activities will focus on WB Yeats and James Joyce, and all events will take place at the NLI.

Further information about the NLI’s programme of events for June is available at: www.nli.ie.