Bloomsday festival gets underway

The Bloomsday festival gets underway today ahead of Leopold Bloom’s re-appearance in Dublin next Saturday, June the 16th.

The Bloomsday festival gets underway today ahead of Leopold Bloom’s re-appearance in Dublin next Saturday, June the 16th.

Bloomsday is a chance for James Joyce aficionados to celebrate the hero of his epic novel Ulysses. The festivities include dressing up as characters from the novel and retracing the route taken by Bloom along parts of Dublin.

This year's festival has been stretched to a seven-day celebration. It will feature performances of "bite-size" Ulyssesexcerpts, the Bloomsday breakfast, bus and walking tours and an open-air showing of the John Huston film, The Dead, based on a Joyce short story.