Head West(wood), to Dublin, for a Free Bloomsday Bash

Join a music-filled, reading-strong celebration of James Joyce's "Ulysses."

What to Know

  • Sunday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m.
  • Hammer Museum
  • Free, but ticket required

There are three months between the 17th day of March and the 16th day of June.

Less a day, of course, if you're keeping track of such things.

And if you're keeping track, you'll likely know that St. Patrick's Day and Bloomsday aren't the same day, at all, and yet you're bound to find traditional Irish fiddling, pints of Guinness, and a spirited affection for Ireland on both occasions.

And while the late-late-late winter holiday is more shamrock'd and Erin-Go-Bragh'd, the late-late-late spring holiday, which will be honored in song and story on June 16 at the Hammer Museum, is very much about James Joyce's "Ulysses," a Dublin-devoted book if there ever was one.

It's Bloomsday, and, as in years gone by, entry is free, though you'll need to get a ticket at the museum box office. Parking under the Westwood-based museum?

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Once again, the museum will pay heartfelt homage to "Ulysses" through a host of live readings of the most dramatic sort.

The actors on the 2019 line-up include Síle Bermingham, Sonya Macari, Johnny O'Callaghan, and several other people ready to step up to the mic and revisit the Dublin of yore.

In the Hammer of today, though, there shall be Guinness to sip at the Bloomsday bash, and live music to stomp your feet to, too. Rattle the Knee, a string-sweet Bloomsday favorite, will provide the cèilidh atmosphere.

The Sunday night literary to-do begins at 7:30 p.m., so perhaps you'll want to spend Sunday afternoon revisiting Jame Joyce's masterwork on the occasion of its annual holiday.

And how many great books get their own holiday? "Few," is the accurate answer. And, among those, Bloomsday continues to shine as brightly as a halfpenny.

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