The James Joyce Bloomsday celebrations began today with plans for a week-long series of lectures, readings and music expected to entice thousands of literary fans to Dublin.
This year's event is being billed as one of the biggest Bloomsday ventures in its more than 100-year history. Bloomsday, June 16th, marks the day in 1904 when all the action of James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place, and it is celebrated by Joyceans not only in Ireland but internationally.
"Outside of the centenary celebrations in 2004, this is the really first year where Bloomsday has stretched into Bloomsweek," said the director of Dublin's James Joyce Centre, Laura Barnes.
Bloomsday re-enacts the events of Ulyssescharacter Leopold Bloom as he travels around the capital. It has become a major international cultural event.
The festivities began today in Dublin, with two films on Joyce by film-maker Ian Graham screened at the James Joyce Centre. Joyce: The Journey Home is a documentary on the restoration of No 35 North Great George's Street, while The Trials Of Ulysses recounts the story of Joyce's epic novel.
Filmed in Europe and the United States, the film also shows the book's early battles against charges of obscenity and Joyce's struggle to get his work published. Undoubtedly the highlight of the internationally recognised cultural event is the June 16th annual Bloomsday Breakfast.
This year's is expected to be one of the most popular yet, with 250 tickets sold out before the week began.
Ms Barnes said such was the demand for the breakfast event that foreigners were booking their holidays to Ireland to coincide with the celebrations, with tickets being snapped up as early as February. "People are booking their holidays in February and March so they get their tickets in advance," she said.
"I would love to increase the size of the Bloomsday Breakfast." Literary fans from throughout the world are expected to attend the week-long festival, ranging in age from teenagers to senior citizens.
"It really runs from neophytes who think it might be a good hoot, to the totally obsessed who probably go to different Bloomsday celebrations each year," she added "It runs from students who are just experiencing Joyce, to people who have been life-long fans."
Other events this week include readings and music from Ulysses performed live and in period costume, cabaret and performance, an art exhibition detailing the route traversed around Dublin in the book and a drama depicting the life of Nora Barnacle.
Dublin journalist and Joyce scholar Terence Killeen will also give a talk on the origins of Ulysses. More information can be obtained from logging on to www.jamesjoyce.ie