Ireland’s diplomatic network presents global ‘Bloomsday & Beyond’ celebration

Bloomsday and Beyond - Celebrating Ireland, Island of Writers - expands the scope of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s annual Bloomsday programme to include all Irish creative writers, present and past. Over 60 Embassies and Consulates across the globe will host events celebrating the breadth of Irish writing, from James Joyce to contemporary authors, poets and playwrights.

In order to reach new global audiences for Irish literature, Embassies and Consulates will distribute thousands of books in over 20 languages to recipients across the globe, partnering with a range of local organisations including libraries, schools, universities, development NGOs, bookshops, cultural centres, broadcast media and transport hubs.

The Bloomsday and Beyond programme also includes a specially commissioned short video featuring writers and readers from Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Mexico, France, Canada and China speaking about their favourite Irish writers, and how Irish literature connects with their own culture. The digitised version of the DFAT/Museum of Literature Ireland exhibition, Joyce: A Global Odyssey, is also being launched on the Bloomsday & Beyond online hub at Ireland.ie/Bloomsday.

Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Defence, Simon Harris TD, said:

“Bloomsday & Beyond 2025 builds on the success of previous Bloomsday programmes to celebrate the breadth of Irish literature, and how it resonates with new generations of readers worldwide. It’s an opportunity for our diplomatic network to collaborate with local partners across the world to promote the amazing new writing and creative ideas coming out of the island of Ireland.”

Bloomsday and Beyond programme highlights featured on Ireland.ie/Bloomsday include:

· India: Mayank Austen Soofi, a renowned writer, photographer and columnist for the Hindustan Times (one of India’s largest English daily newspapers, with the second highest daily circulation and readership in the country), will travel to Ireland to participate in Bloomsday celebrations. During his time in Dublin his column in the Hindustan Times will be re-named Dublinwale.

· China: Ireland’s Consulate General in Shanghai will celebrate classic and contemporary Irish literature across Shanghai, Nanjing, and Suzhou from 13 to 20 June. The programme, “Dublin to the Yangtze Delta”, includues a series of public readings and literary discussions with three bookshops playing host to a ‘Blind Date with Irish Books’ experience.

· Greece: The Irish Embassy in Athens will host an Irish culture stand and the facilitation of an Irish literature focussed workshop targeting children and young people, to be held on World Refugee Day (20 June) as part of Refugee Week Greece.

· Denmark: The Irish Embassy in Copenhagen collaborated with the Copenhagen Jewish Festival to host ‘Literary Threads from Lithuania to Ireland’ on 4 June. Irish writer Simon Lewis read from his award-winning collection of poems, interspersing these with stories about 18th century Jewish migration from Lithuania to Ireland, the community that settled in Cork, and how this helped to shape Jewish Irish identity and culture over the years.

In Dublin, the Bloomsday Festival, presented by the James Joyce Centre, embraces an extensive range of programming from 12-18 June, including film screenings, art exhibitions and walking tours of the city, while Museum of Literature Ireland offers a rich programme of events for Bloomsday. Find out more at moli.ie and bloomsdayfestival.ie.

ENDS
Press Office
12 June 2025