IRELAND. Today, 16 June, is Bloomsday, a special day in Irish and worldwide literary history.
It celebrates Irish writer James Joyce’s epic work Ulysses, a masterpiece published 100 years ago in 1922. The novel tells, in rollicking style, the tale of people going about their lives on a single day in Dublin – 16 June 1904.
The novel is celebrated on the same historic June date every year as Bloomsday, named after the main character Leopold Bloom. Joycean enthusiasts dress up as characters from the book (including wearing the hallmark straw boater hat), visit venues across Dublin that feature in the novel, and conduct readings.
In partnership with Walsh Whiskey – which has just released a limited-edition Writers’ Tears Copper Pot to commemorate this epic work’s centenary – The Moodie Davitt Report asked several Irish (or of Irish descent) travel retail executives to read excerpts from the book.
The readings come from Lotus Eaters, Episode 5, which features Sweny’s Pharmacy, a famed Dublin institution and, today, cultural centre. Sweny’s, depicted on the commemorative bottle, represents a perfectly preserved piece of living history from Joyce’s Victorian Dublin, one that Writers’ Tears supports philanthropically.
Our celebration begins with Walsh Whiskey Founder & CEO Bernard Walsh, who is followed by some familiar faces.
The limited-edition bottle, designed by Studio Minerva of London, features a striking screen-print and line drawing of Sweny’s Pharmacy, which Joyce himself visited in 1904 and features in Episode 5 of Ulysses.
The special Writers’ Tears Copper Pot Ulysses release is limited to just 5,442 bottles and is available in Ireland (including at The Loop in Dublin Airport), Austria, Canada, France, Germany and the UK at a RRP of €45.
Writers’ Tears is also celebrating the centenary of Ulysses with a programme of activities including:
- A drinks reception at the International James Joyce Symposium in MOLI (Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin)
- A reading from Ulysses and whiskey tasting evening led by Bernard Walsh at a Joycean venue
- Complimentary whiskeys for swimmers and spectators at Fitzgerald’s of Sandycove, the venue of the opening scene in Ulysses
- Support of the screening of the documentary Remarkable Women, about the women who influenced the first publication of Ulysses.
Arise you Freeman of Sweny’s |
