Celebrate Bloomsday at the NLI
"The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring." - James Joyce
Experience the world of Ulysses in the very spaces that inspired it. Enjoy a theatrical Joycean reading in the NLI’s iconic Reading Room, lively performances by the Fingal Mummers on the Library steps, and special Bloomsday celebrations across both our Kildare Street and College Green locations.
Visitors can also collect Bloomsday Passport stamps, meet the James Joyce Massive Head, and pose with period-style props for memorable photographic opportunities throughout the day.
Events:
'In the heart of Hibernian metropolis...' | Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again
12:00 - 1:00pm | Rotunda, College Green
No booking required for this free event.
Join us this Bloomsday at Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again to hear readings from both Heaney and Joyce in the dramatic Rotunda inside the Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre.
Discover Finders Keepers, where Heaney writes about the joys of Joyce's language and how it applies to poetry even when not of the same form, and then experience examples of said language in a reading from the Aeolus chapter of Ulysses, where Bloom enters a printing house that was just down the road from the Seamus Heaney exhibition. With performance starting at 12pm on the 16th June, you can't miss it!
‘Scylla and Charybdis’ in the Reading Room at the National Library of Ireland
2:00-2:30pm & 2:30-3:00pm | National Library of Ireland, 7/8 Kildare Street
Booking for this free event is essential.
"What is that, Mr. Dedalus? the quaker librarian asked. Was it a celestial phenomenon?"
"A star by night, Stephen said, a pillar of the cloud by day."
Join us this Bloomsday for a special theatrical reading of the scenes set in the NLI’s iconic Reading Room by actors in full Joycean costume. During the performance Ulysses characters Stephen Dedalus and Buck Mulligan meet the ‘quaker librarian’, NLI’s former Director Thomas William Lyster, and Leopold Bloom consults the NLI’s newspaper collections on a quest to find a back issue of the Kilkenny People.
This reading is recommended for audiences aged 12 and over.
“A play for the mummers": Fingal Mummers at the National Library of Ireland
3:00-4:00pm | National Library of Ireland, 7/8 Kildare Street
No booking required for this free event.
Enjoy a special performance by the Fingal Mummers at the National Library of Ireland. Inspired by Ulysses character Buck Mulligan whose mummers’ play is set in the NLI’s front hall, this performance takes place from 3pm-4pm at the NLI on Kildare Street.
On hand to welcome visitors for the occasion will be the James Joyce Massive Head by the Galway-based performing arts group Arcana. Period-style props will be also available to support the festive atmosphere and create iconic photographic opportunities on the portico steps.
All day June 16th | National Library of Ireland, 7/8 Kildare Street
10:00am - 4:00pm June 15th & 16th | Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again Exhibition, Rotunda, College Green
No booking required for this free event.
Central to NLI’s partnership with the James Joyce Centre is the Bloomsday 2026 Passport. Bloomsday festival goers can get their passport stamped at the NLI on Kildare Street and Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again exhibition, with different stamps available to collect in each location.
Stamps will be available at the NLI on Kildare Street all day June 16th and at the Heaney Exhibition on June 15th and 16th.
Finally, the NLI’s beautiful Reading Room which featured in Ulysses will also be open to the public to visit between 6pm – 8pm on June 16th.
All are welcome to attend the events and we hope to see you at the National Library of Ireland for Bloomsday!
