Conway Mill Trust

On June 10, 1904 James Joyce was walking Nassau Street in Dublin when a pretty young lady (Nora Barnacle) caught his eye. He found out where she lived and made a date with her. On June 16 they went walking at Irishtown, Ringsend and a few months later they eloped to the continent. He celebrated June 16 and enshrined this day in his masterpiece, “Ulysses,” in which Joyce chronicles the passage of the fictional Leopold Bloom around Dublin. The first re-creation of “Bloomsday” was in 1954 when a group of artists and writers donned Edwardian costumes and retraced Bloom’s route around Dublin reading at each stop from the novel, in some cases for 36 hours. The tradition has spread world wide, and many cities have enthusiasts going from pubs to museums to theatres all day reciting from “Ulysses,” with some merry making no doubt.