James Joyce (1882-1941), author of the prolific landmark novel Ulysses, has been called the greatest 20th-century novelist writing in English. On Thursday, June 16 from Noon – 7pm, the Rosenbach Museum & Library will celebrate the Irish author and Joycean tradition with its 19th annual Bloomsday, an open-air festival featuring dramatic readings from Ulysses by some of Philadelphia’s most interesting business, creative, and media personalities from the steps of the museum. This Bloomsday, the Rosenbach welcomes H.E. Michael Collins, a native of Dublin and Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, who will kick-off the Bloomsday festivities as the first reader.
Rosenbach Museum & Library
The Rosenbach, home of James Joyce’s original handwritten manuscript for Ulysses, holds this Philadelphia tradition every year on June 16, drawing hundreds of friends, neighbors, Joyce enthusiasts, book-lovers, and curious passersby to Delancey Place to celebrate Bloomsday, the day on which Ulysses protagonist Leopold Bloom made his fictional “odyssey” through Dublin.
Throughout June, the Rosenbach will also offer an array of related Ulysses-themed events including the special exhibition of Joyce materials, Exile Among Expats: James Joyce in Paris, an evening with acclaimed Irish author Jamie O’Neill, the Ulysses crash-course Bloomsday 101, Hands-On Tours exploring the work of Irish authors and more. The 23rd annual Rosenbacchanal will benefit Bloomsday programming and the museum’s connection to Ireland with a dinner the night before Bloomsday, Wednesday, June 15 at the Trinity Center for Urban Life. [A full schedule of events follows below.]
This year’s readers include Philadelphians from around the city, representing nearly twenty area zip codes, in addition to special guests. Many readers have a longstanding connection to Bloomsday and the Rosenbach. Michael Toner, a Philadelphia theater artist and Irish immigrant to the U.S. who has participated in the museum’s Bloomsday festivities since the beginning will mark his 19th year as a reader. Graduates of the Rosenbach’s Ulysses reading group, including Bill George, a Joyce lover whose children bought him the course as a birthday gift, will also read passages of the novel alongside Mayor of Philadelphia Michael A. Nutter, Marty Moss-Coane, host of WHYY’s Radio Times, and Siobhan Reardon, President of The Free Library of Philadelphia.
The June 16th Bloomsday celebration is free and open to the public and is held in front of the museum at 2008-2010 Delancey Place in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. Admission to the museum is free on Bloomsday. In the event of inclement weather, Bloomsday will move indoors to the Trinity Center for Urban Life, 22nd and Spruce Streets. For more information, call (215) 732-1600 or visit www.rosenbach.org.
A selection of 2011 Bloomsday readers include:
H.E. Michael Collins, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States
Jim Cotter, WRTI 90.1 FM
David Dye, World Café, WXPN, 88.5 FM
Derek Gillman, The Barnes Foundation
Karen Heller, Philadelphia Inquirer
Ed Hermance, Owner, Giovanni’s Room bookstore
Ken Kalfus, Author, The Commissariat of EnlightenmentandA Disorder Peculiar to the Country
Donald Kimelman, Pew Charitable Trusts
William McLaughlin, Irish-American Business Chamber and Network
Marty Moss-Coane, Radio Times, WHYY 90.9 FM
The Honorable Michael A. Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia
Jamie O’Neill, Author, At Swim, Two Boys
Sharon Pinkenson, Greater Philadelphia Film Office
Michael E. Scullin, Esq., Honorary Counsel of France in Philadelphia
Susan E. Sherman, Independence Foundation
Siobhan Reardon, The Free Library of Philadelphia
Dito van Reigersberg, Pig Iron Theatre Company
The Rosenbach seeks to inspire curiosity, inquiry, and creativity by engaging broad audiences in exhibitions, programs, and research based on its remarkable and expanding collections.
Rosenbach Museum & Library
DELANCEY PLACE PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103
(215)732-1600
www.rosenbach.org
