The James Joyce Centre was honoured to be featured in Sandi’s Ireland: A Literary Journey last night on Channel 4. Director Darina Gallagher talks to Sandi Toksvig in the James Joyce Centre about Joyce and his deep connection to Dublin. Watch the full episode by clicking the button below.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre was delighted to host Martin Mühlheim, General Manager of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation, on Wednesday, 12 August at 5pm for a lecture on Joyce’s relationship with the Swiss city of Zürich.
When Joyce decided to leave Ireland in 1904, he and Nora Barnacle intended to move to Zürich. Things didn’t quite work out this way – and yet they would return to the Swiss city on the river Limmat time and again, over the coming years.
The lecture explored some of the stories related to Joyce’s stays in Zürich. In addition, it examined the traces the city has left in Joyce’s poetry and prose. It also focusd on Joyce’s Zurich afterlife: his grave at Fluntern cemetery, as well as a few highlights from the unique collection of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation.
Martin Mühlheim is a research assistant at the English Department of the University of Zurich and the General Manager of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
We were pleased to host Dr. Paul Fagan for the launch of Celibacy in Irish Women’s Writing on Friday, 10 July 2026 at 5pm.
Celibacy in Irish Women’s Writing, edited by Dr. Paul Fagan, is an open-access Humanities special issue dedicated to less familiar feminist, queer, and activist versions of celibacy in Irish women’s movements and literature. Boasting new research from leading experts in Irish women’s writing, the essays explore representations of unmarried and widowed women in writing by Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O’Brien, Mary Lavin, Molly Keane, Eva Gore-Booth, Edna O’Brien, and more, in order to better understand the historical trajectories of the ‘female celibate’ as a political and cultural figure in Ireland.
In the accompanying podcast series Unmarried Sisters, Dr. Paul Fagan speaks to leading figures in Irish, gender, and sexuality studies to learn more about historical collaborations and the bonds formed between differently celibate Irish women—whether in friendships, romantic relationships, creative collaborations or forms of political and revolutionary organisation—and to explore celibacy’s imbrications with first-wave feminist politics, patterns of queer kinship, and Irish literary modernism.
The special collection and podcast was launched by Prof. Katherine Ebury (incoming UCD James Joyce Chair), with additional remarks by the editor Dr. Paul Fagan (University of Vienna) and contributors Prof. Anne Fogarty (UCD), Prof. Maureen O’Connor (UCC), Dr. Deirdre Foley (TCD) and Fae McNamara (Teesside University).
The special issue and podcast series were made possible by the support of the Research Ireland project Celibacy in Irish Women’s Writing, 1860s–1950s (GOIPD/2022/634). It can be accessed via MDPI: Celibacy in Irish Women’s Writing
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre and The Write Stuff are delighted to announce our joint collaboration with Dublin by Dusk, in partnership with the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, Fáilte Ireland, Dublin City Council, and Dublin Town. At each gathering, storytellers, and poets, are joined by showcase musicians, working to a pre-agreed theme. Thus, delivering a continuous, collaborative flow of original work.
Our first collaboration was held on Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 7pm.
Steve O’Toole is a street stalking creative, poet, storyteller, artist, and the creative force behind The Write Stuff. Not one to sit on the fence, Steve firmly wears both his heart & mind on his sleeve, delivering forceful versed commentary by the page full. Originally performing in the mid 90’s as support to Irish writer ‘Pat Ingoldsby’. It was early 2023, when Steve returned after a far too long hiatus. Since then, he has gone on to read & perform at The International Literary Festival, The Dublin Arts & Human Rights Festival, The Bram Stoker Festival, Culture Nights, Craicly Stories, and curate & host The Write Stuff gatherings at Chapters Bookstore.
Two Prong – John Fleming and Niall Toner Jr of The Prongs Dubliners John Fleming and Niall Toner Jr have been friends since their teenage years. Fleming is an award-winning radio dramatist who has written half a dozen radio plays broadcast by RTE and BBC, along with other forms of fiction including the critically acclaimed London migrant novel The Now Now Express. Toner Jr is a renowned musician, songwriter and soundscape designer who has played and toured in bands since the 1980s such as Those Handsome Devils, The Dixons, The Cajun Kings and Strand. This show is a rare opportunity to catch The Prongs in their special, intimate two-man format (Two-Prong). Away from the bombast of their full six-piece band iteration, Fleming and Toner will perform a curated menu of their most sharply Dublin-infused work along with readings from The Now Now Express novel from which The Prongs first crawled as fictional entities. Two-Prong promises a Telecaster/microphone/backing film projection performance worthy of the James Joyce-linked North Great George’s Street venue hosting this extraordinary evening with The Write Stuff. Come enter the tuneful and emotive audio/visual world of The Prongs.
Kaycii is an emerging hip hop artist and lyricist from Crumlin, Dublin, known for his raw storytelling, dark imagery and vocal aggression. His music combines introspective lyricism with hard-hitting boom bap influences, exploring themes of survival, identity, trauma, addiction, and ambition. Known for his intense delivery and poetic writing style, his work reflects both the grit of inner-city Dublin and a deep passion for classic hip hop culture. Working on his debut project and side projects, Kaycii has been in the background perfecting his craft and preparing for release.
Eddie Winston is an emerging artist. He is a soulful, and inspiring, singer-songwriter from Ballymun, Dublin. Following a hard-fought journey to break free from addiction after 25 years. He crafts a unique blend of folk and contemporary sound, pairing acoustic guitar with lyrics that confront serious issues like homelessness, addiction, and loss. His songs combine diverse musical influences with powerful social commentary, and his honest and raw storytelling speaks to the struggles of life and the resilience needed to overcome them.
Tom Tierney has performed at Electric Picnic, the Sceal Collective, The Fingal Poetry Festival and elsewhere. He has had short fiction published in the Stinging Fly, Southword, Howl, the London Magazine and New Irish Writing alongside non-fiction in Physics World and New Scientist. His play, Forgetting, was produced in the New Theatre in Temple Bar last year and will be broadcast on Newstalk later this year.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre, presented in association with Poetry Ireland, was proud to host “Who’s He When He’s at Home?”, a lunchtime gathering bringing poets and audiences together in honour of Poetry Day Ireland.
On Thursday, 28th May at 1-2pm, we gathering at the doorway of No. 7 Eccles Street — one of the most iconic homes in literature, as featured in Ulysses by James Joyce. Located in our courtyard, the doorway is the threshold of Leopold Bloom’s home, inviting reflection on the meaning of home through poetry. The idea of home is at the heart of Ulysses, where Joyce transforms everyday domestic life into something expansive and deeply human. No. 7 Eccles Street becomes a powerful symbol of return, intimacy, and inner life. The event invites audiences to reflect on how home is experienced — not just as a fixed place but as something shaped by movement, relationships, and imagination.
The event featured invited poets alongside an open mic segment. We were joined by award-winning poet Cormac Mac Gearailt.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
Any Japanese translator of Finnegans Wake faces a seemingly insurmountable obstacle: whereas the Latin script is used by over 1,800 different languages around the world (including English), the Japanese script is used only by Japanese. This means that words written in the Latin script can pun across multiple languages much more effortlessly compared to words written in the Japanese script. Given this difference, is there a way to plausibly translate the multilingual prose of Finnegans Wake into Japanese?
A new translation of Book I, Chapter 2 was published on Finnegans Web last October. Compared to previous Japanese translations of the Wake, the new translation distinguishes itself by recreating all of the major textual features of Joyce’s prose, including multilingualism, within the constraints of the Japanese script. On Tuesday, 5 May 2026 at 6:30pm, translator and Finnegans Web co-founder Kenji Hayakawa presented a detailed and beginner-friendly overview of how that was done. This talk focused on Book I, Chapter 2 and revealed a number of surprising facts about the Wake as well as the Japanese language.
Kenji Hayakawa is a translator and interpreter based in Dublin, Ireland. Working with the English-Japanese pair, he has translated a wide range of material including books by Yoko Tawada, Noam Chomsky, Dipesh Chakrabarty and others. He is the founder and host of Reading Finnegans Wake, a Japanese-language weekly livestream programme endorsed by the Embassy of Ireland in Japan, the James Joyce Centre and the Blooms & Barnacles Podcast. Currently, he is working on a new Japanese translation of Finnegans Wake.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
On 8-13 March 2026, Director Darina Gallagher and Dr. Josh Q. Newman visited the Petofi Museum of Literature (PIM) in Budapest, Hungary for a job shadowing programme that is part of an Erasmus+ short-term mobility project, “Digital Transformation in European Writers’ Museum.”
The six-month project aims to improve digitization competences, facilitate the accessibility and usability of collections, reach a wider audience through online platforms, enable an exciting museum experience for all people, expand the circle of cooperation partners and present the project results internationally. The project hopes to significantly improve the digitisation knowledge and skills of memory institutions in order to present the literary and cultural history of 20th-century Europe in a broader and more inclusive way.
You can read more about our experiences in this blog: Digital Transformation in European Writers’ Museums: Part 2.
We wish to express our gratitude to Anna Benedek, Dr. Andrea Borbás and Dr. Andrea Parádi of PIM as well as the Embassy of Ireland, Hungary, ELTE Savaria Egyetemi Központ, and Bloomsday Szombathely.
The project is co-funded by the European Union and facilitated by Léargas. The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre, in collaboration with the Embassy of Cyprus in Dublin, the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Ireland, the Macedonian Cultural Association of Ireland “Aristotle” and the Federation of Cypriots of Ireland, was pleased to host the presentation of three books by Cypriot writer and translator Lily Michaelides (Arena; HIM, stories of men; and Self-portrait) on Tuesday, 28 April 2026 at 6pm.
The evening commenced with welcome speeches by Darina Gallagher, Director of the James Joyce Centre, and Thomae Kakouli-Duarte, the President of the Macedonian Cultural Association “Aristotle” and representative of the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Ireland, followed by a conversation between Dr Alev Adil, translator David Connolly, and poet Jessica Traynor. Lily read three texts in the original Greek alongside an English translation by tenor and actor Morgan Crowley (piano).
Lily Michaelides is a Cyprian poet and author. Her poems have been translated in many languages and published in literary magazines, blogs, newspapers and anthologies in Cyprus and abroad. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus PEN Centre, for Public and International Relations, 2013-2019. Since 2006 she is a co-founder and director of the cultural organisation Ideogramma, organisers of literary and poetry festivals local and international. Find out more about Lily’s work on www.lilymichaelides.com.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre was pleased to host two performances of Colin Murphy’s Miasma on 28 & 30 April 2026 for a special audience of secondary school students.
‘Charles Dickens’ era’ London. It follows the pioneering outsider doctor John Snow as he challenges medical orthodoxy and lays the foundations of modern epidemiology and data science.
Cast: Jack Gavin / Niamh McGrath / Robbie O’Connor / Karl Quinn / Peter Rothwell
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann and The James Joyce Centre were pleased to present three events in commemoration of Eavan Boland. Taking place across Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April, this special programme of events celebrated the life and enduring legacy of one of Ireland’s foremost poets, Eavan Boland, on the sixth anniversary of her passing.
We welcomed Jane Hirshfield and Paula Meehan for an evening of poetry, marking the opening of the inaugural Eavan Boland Weekend.
This opening event brought together two extraordinary voices in contemporary poetry. Jane Hirshfield, award-winning essayist, poet, and translator, and Paula Meehan, one of Ireland’s most celebrated poets, read from their own work, and reflected on Eavan Boland’s legacy and contribution to Irish poetry.
This one-hour master class looked at the question of questions in poetry in several dimensions: how almost any lyric poem can be understood as the response to a question — whether or not that question is explicitly given — but also some ways that acts of interrogation can open a poem to unexpected expansions and directions, admit uncertainty, or allow a poem to say things that might not be otherwise sayable. The session included at least one generative experiment, perhaps two–please bring notebook and pen or some other way to write.
This reading featured each of our awardees reading from their forthcoming collections alongside some work by Eavan Boland with our mentors discussing the impact and connection of Eavan Boland’s work.
Alvy Carragher
Alvy Carragher is based in Dublin. She grew up in Galway and Tipperary and has lived in Louisiana, South Korea, and Canada. She is the author of three poetry collections, most recently What Remains the Same (The Gallery Press, 2024), shortlisted for the Farmgate National Poetry Award. She was selected for Poetry Ireland’s Eavan Boland Award (2025–2026) and has received the Irish Arts Council’s Literature Bursary Award (2022 and 2024). She is currently working on a fourth poetry collection and a book of short stories.
Ali Choudhary
Originally from Ireland, Ali Choudhary is a writer and artist. He is the recipient of the Eavan Boland Award by Poetry Ireland, among other honours, including being selected as a finalist for The Adroit Prize for Poetry and the Loraine Williams Poetry Prize. Ali’s poems appear in The Adroit Journal, Protean Magazine, Shenandoah, and others.
Dr. Rachael Hegarty
Dr. Rachael Hegarty is a Dubliner, poet, educator and broadcaster. Her poetry collections have won awards and critical acclaim. Her fifth collection, Saints Alive – a Kinda Novena, launches in 2026. She’s been published in PIR, Cyphers, the Irish Times, Banshee and International Poetry Anthologies. Her kids say she, still, uses the F words too much; Finglas, Feminism and Feckin’ Poetry!
John McAuliffe
John McAuliffe has published seven books with The Gallery Press, including National Theatre, which was an Observer and Irish Times ‘Book of the Year’ in 2024, The Kabul Olympics, which was a Guardian Poetry Book of the Month in June 2020 and a TLS and Irish Times 2020 Book of the Year, and The Way In (2015), which won the Michael Hartnett Award for Best Irish Collection that year. His Selected Poems was published in the US by Wake Forest in 2024. He is Professor of Poetry at the University of Manchester, where is also the University’s AVP for Culture. John is also Associate Publisher at Carcanet Press, which published Eavan Boland’s work for many decades, and where he has recently worked on Mist Becoming Rain: Selected Poems of Austin Clarke (June 26).
Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann is proudly funded by The Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and through The Arts Council of Northern Ireland National Lottery Funding. The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
We were pleased to host Mary O’Donnell and her reading of her compelling new novel, Sweep the Cobwebs off the Sky on Saturday, 11 April 2026 at 4pm. The event was part of the Five Lamps Arts Festival.
The book explores the lives of three older women, two daughters and their 93-year-old mother, and how returning to the family home awakens bitter memories of childhood abuse. The house itself is haunted by a poltergeist, reflecting the inner distress experienced by the novel’s protagonist.
Mary O’Donnell is a prolific and well-known poet and novelist. Her latest novel Sweep the Cobwebs off the Sky has just been published by Époque Press, and her tenth poetry collection Tenderness appears with Wake Forest University Press in September. Her collection of short stories Walking Ghosts appeared last year from Mercier Press. She is a member since 2001 of the artists’ affiliation Aosdána.
The reading will finish with a Q&A by Mia Gallagher who is a Dublin-based writer of novels, short stories, essays, and theatre. Her novel HellFire (Penguin, 2006) won the Irish Tatler Literature Award, and Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland (New Island, 2016) was longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Award.
Her short story collection Shift (2018) was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards. Her work has been widely anthologised, and recent work includes writing for The Stinging Fly and a short story broadcast on RTÉ Radio. She is a contributing editor with The Stinging Fly and a member of Aosdána.
The James Joyce Centre was delighted to host the launch of the 9th volume of Cut & Paste: Remembering Arthur Griffith with guest speaker Bryan Dobson on Tuesday, 31 March at 12pm.
Bryan Dobson is a retired Irish journalist, newscaster and presenter for RTÉ.
Published by Printwell Books, Cut & Paste is an annual publication that focuses on Arthur Griffith and his times. Edited by Cormac O’Hanrahan, this year’s edition includes articles by Colum Kenny, Felix M. Larkin, Brian Maye, Gerard Shannon, Aaron Ó Maonaigh, Turlough Crowe, Des Gunning, Brendan Twomey and Andrew Basquille.
Copies are available for purchase at The James Joyce Centre. You may also order online at printwellbooks.com.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
On 8-13 February 2026, Director Darina Gallagher and Dr. Josh Q. Newman visited the Under and Tuglas Literary Institute in Tallinn, Estonia for a job shadowing programme that is part of an Erasmus+ short-term mobility project, “Digital Transformation in European Writers’ Museum.”
The six-month project aims to improve digitization competences, facilitate the accessibility and usability of collections, reach a wider audience through online platforms, enable an exciting museum experience for all people, expand the circle of cooperation partners and present the project results internationally. The project hopes to significantly improve the digitisation knowledge and skills of memory institutions in order to present the literary and cultural history of 20th-century Europe in a broader and more inclusive way.
You can read more about our experiences in this blog: Digital Transformation in European Writers’ Museums: Part 1.
We wish to express our gratitude to Hegely Klaus, Dr. Elle-Mari Talivee, Iris Eelmaa of the Literary Institute as well as the Tallinn Literature Centre and the Estonian Academy of Sciences. The next phase of the project will take place this month at the Petőfi Literary Museum in Budapest, Hungary.
The project is co-funded by the European Union and facilitated by Léargas. The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre was delighted to host the premiere of 18 More Ballads after James Joyce’s Ulysses Volume II by Val O’Donnell on Friday, 6th February at 6.30pm.
Adding to the success of his 2024 18 Ballads from James Joyce’s Ulysses, Val is at it again with 18 more vibrant, playful and engrossing ballads set to airs of music referred to in Ulysses and Joyce’s other work. It includes short quotes from Joyce’s work, a note on the music and suggestions for accessing the original sheet music and performances of the airs chosen for the ballads.
Although there are about 700 songs referenced in Ulysses, only a few songs are actually performed by the characters. Only one of the episodes – ‘Sirens,’ which is set in the saloon bar of the old Ormond Hotel – is the setting for an informal afternoon concert. Even then, we only hear snatches of the music being sung. Val thought it would be a good idea to give a musical voice to some of the characters and to set their ballads to music associated with Joyce.
After the inaugural performance in 2024 and another in 2025, the James Joyce Centre was honoured to host the third.
Copies of 18 More Ballads are on sale in our giftshop and are available for shipping. The book was published by Printwell Books.
Our special thanks to Val, Sinéad Murphy, Joe Ryder, Andrew Basquille and Darina Gallgher for their wonderful performances.
About Val
Val O’Donnell has a connection with the theatre for over 50 years as an actor, director and adaptor of Irish literature.
In 2011, Val established The JoyceStagers Theatre Company to perform his adaptations from the works of James Joyce. The JoyceStagers have performed “The Funeral of Paddy Dignam,” adapted by Val from the 6th episode of Ulysses, annually on Bloomsday at Glasnevin Cemetary. They have also performed his adaptations from Episodes 8, 12, and 16 at various locations in Dublin during the Bloomsday Festival. Val has a lifelong interest in music and plays piano. Email him at [email protected].
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
On Monday, 2 February 2026, the James Joyce Centre was open to the public for free to celebrate the birthday of James Joyce.
We had a wonderful time filled with joy, laughter, tours, songs, readings and more than a little cake. Mr Joyce himself (aka John Shevlin) even managed to make an appearance at his own party.
Thanks so much to Noel O’Grady, Eileene McLoughlin, Jack Walsh, Paul Reardon, Sinead Murphy and to all of those who joined us for this special day.
Happy 144th James!
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
A text like Finnegans Wake can understandably be met with a degree of intimidation from an unfamiliar audience. But what if it were possible to make the experience of browsing through the text easy and enjoyable?
The Finnegans Web project in Japan was launched on Bloomsday 2025 with the aim of making Finnegans Wake accessible to all. On Thursday, 15 January 2026 at 6:30pm, Finnegans Web co-founder Kenji Hayakawa presented an overview of the project as well as the inner workings of its two main pillars, the Notes and the New Translation. This talk offered practical insights into ways of encouraging and supporting a wider readership to pick up and enjoy a book like Finnegans Wake.
Kenji Hayakawa is a translator and interpreter based in Dublin, Ireland. Working with the English-Japanese pair, he has translated a wide range of material including books by Yoko Tawada, Noam Chomsky, Dipesh Chakrabarty and others. He is the founder and host of Reading Finnegans Wake, a Japanese-language weekly livestream programme endorsed by the Embassy of Ireland in Japan, the James Joyce Centre and the Blooms & Barnacles Podcast. Currently, he is working on a new Japanese translation of Finnegans Wake.
You can access his translation at www.finneganswake.net.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
Bewley’s Café Theatre and The James Joyce Centre presented Charles Dickens’ timeless classic A Christmas Carol! Watch as you are transported back to Victorian London and follow the heartwarming journey of Ebenezer Scrooge on Friday & Saturday, 12 & 13 December 2025 at 7pm.
Performed by Michael James Ford, Sinead Murphy, and Sam Ford, the performance showed Scrooge’s ghostly journey to redemption, accompanied by a richly atmospheric live musical score. A sell-out hit at the Viking Theatre for the past nine years, it was the perfect way to experience Dickens’ masterpiece and share his world of phantoms, darkness, merriment, and everlasting goodwill.
“Don’t miss this delightful version of the classic.” Sunday Independent
“…fine dramatic storytelling…perfect for the season.” Red Curtain Review
“It lingers in the mind…it really is superb.” Donnchadh O’Laoire
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communication and Sport.
6 December 2025 at 7pm
We were pleased to host a screening of the 1977 adaptation of James Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (dir. Joseph Strick) on Saturday, 6th December 2025 at 7pm.
The film depicts the coming-of-age of Stephen Dedalus at the turn of the 20th century. It poignantly explores the timeless themes for which Joyce is known; national identity and personal belonging, loss of youth and innocence, and the complexities of artistic life.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre was pleased to host a discussion with Portuguese writer Pedro Chagas Freitas in an event organised by the Embassy of Portugal to Ireland in collaboration with Literature Ireland on the subject of his new book, The Day I Found You, on Friday, 5 December 2025 at 6.30pm. Moderated by Sinéad Mac Aodha, Director of Literature Ireland, this literary gathering fostered a wide-ranging discussion about this exciting new novel and its exploration of love and loss.
Pedro Chagas Freitas is a Portuguese writer, journalist, public speaker, and creative writing mentor, having founded the National Championship of Creative Writing in Portugal. With over 30 books published, his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and published in over fifty countries, with sales exceeding one million copies worldwide. The Day I Found You is the first of his novels to be published in English.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
Through music, poetry, and storytelling, The Poetry Stroll brought to life the history and literary landmarks of Dublin on Saturday, 22nd November 2025 at 7pm.
After a year of tracing the footsteps of James Joyce, Leopold Bloom, Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell — and many others — around Sweny’s Pharmacy, Merrion Square Park, and Finn’s Hotel, the songs and verses performed during The Poetry Stroll have been gathered on an album: Lotus Eater: Songs & Verses.
This launch concert at the James Joyce Centre brought Joycean songs, poetry set to music, and a few original pieces into the bargain — by singer-songwriter Remco Jacobs, a.k.a. Lotus Eater.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communication and Sport.
Sunday, 16 November 2025 at 11am
The James Joyce Centre was pleased to host this family-friendly, authentic storytelling experience as young and old wereinvited to re-connect with their storytelling roots at Fable Family Festival on Sunday, 16 November.
Fable celebrates the power of storytelling, inspiring the next generation of seanchaí by re-imagining the traditional storytelling experience in ambitious and imaginative ways that engage young and curious audiences.
It was a magical day of storytelling, workshops, and creative activities for children. Families enjoyed fireside stories, songs, and tall tales with actor, singer, and storyteller Wren Dennehy and friends, where children sang along to the tale of Molly Malone and watched the Púca come to life in word and song.
Our seanchaís brought colourful myths reimagined for modern ears, including the specially commissioned story by children’s writer Dave Rudden, The Salmon of Knowledge, which celebrates wisdom, curiosity, perseverance, and the joy of sharing knowledge.
Children also joined Animal Story Time Yoga, where they moved and played like their favourite animal friends, imagining fantastic creatures and bringing their stories to life on the mat in a supportive and inclusive environment. In What’s Your Tall Tale, children worked with a storyteller to reconnect with Ireland’s rich storytelling tradition, creating their own tall tales through imagery and words.
In theatre and improv workshops with Dublin City Libraries’ Storyteller in Residence Aisling Breen, kids became storytellers themselves, using drama games, movement, and playful improvisation to develop characters, scenes, and adventures on stage. Finally, children celebrated heroes through art with acclaimed artist Kiki Na Art, designing and creating artworks inspired by mythic legends or real-life heroes.
Fable on Film featured Seanchai recordings of mythic stories which families visited throughout the day.
Children dove into creativity at Arts & Crafts: Create Your Own Salmon of Knowledge, where they crafted their own Salmon of Knowledge using recycled materials, paint, and imagination, celebrating wisdom, curiosity, and the joy of discovery through art. Alongside this, the Spellcasting Stand offered a magical space where storytelling and play werecombined as a tool for well-being, encouraging imagination and mindfulness.
For those who could not attend in person, the Fable Podcast offers accessible portals to ancient Ireland, featuring the 2025 unique adaptation of the Salmon of Knowledge, alongside classics from previous festivals, including renowned seanchaí Eddie Lenihan sharing stories of the “other folk,” alongside modern myths read by singer Jerry Fish and actress Mary Murray.
Fable Family Festival is proudly sponsored by The Arts Council of Ireland with thanks to the James Joyce Centre.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
Saturday, 15 November 2025 at 7.30pm
The James Joyce Centre was delighted to host Volta Theatre Company for their performance of STORIES FROM DUBLINERS on Saturday, 15th November 2025 at 7.30pm.
Volta’s celebrated adaptation of Dubliners was expanded to include adaptations of four stories from Joyce’s debut work: “Eveline,” “Two Gallants,” “A Little Cloud,” and “Counterparts.”
These four short stories from Joyce’s debut work are vivid ‘slices of life’ from early 20th century Dublin. Stunningly accompanied by live music, the stories portray a society in paralysis in immaculately detailed scenes: in “Eveline,” a young woman agonises over eloping to Buenas Aires with her sailor lover. In “Two Gallants,” a sordid pair of ne-er-do-wells mooch around Dublin on the make. “A Little Cloud” sees a sensitive soul thrown by a meeting with an old college friend back from London, while “Counterparts” takes us on a doomed pub crawl with an ungainly, bad-tempered law clerk.
At once funny and tragic, Joyce’s tales are populated with an array of colourful characters who remain entirely contemporary, despite the bowler hats and Edwardian collars.
Adapted and directed by Jim Roche and Liam Hourican
Starring Oliver Flitcroft, Liam Hourican, Gillian Roberts, and Jim Roche
Keyboard and violin: Feilimidh Nunan
Clarinet: Conor Shiels
The Volta Theatre Company is a new company with a mission to breathe new life into the classics. It has established a reputation for excellence with adaptations of works from Joyce and Shakespeare. With a residency at the National Opera House, it is a company of highly experienced actors, musicians and designers who have worked extensively in Irish theatre, television and film. The company was founded in 2023 by Liam Hourican and Jim Roche, long-time collaborators in sketch comedy for Channel 4, RTE and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Shakespeare productions include Hamlet (2024) and Macbeth(2025) at the NOH and Smock Alley. Joyce adaptations include Counterparts & A Little Cloud at the James Joyce Centre, Bewleys Café Theatre, the Draoicht and the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, Telemachus at the James Joyce Tower (Bloomsday Festival 2024/2025) and Cyclops at the Lexicon Studio.
‘these latest adaptations… are heart-rendingly perfect’ Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent
‘Superbly articulated performances…’ The Arts Review
‘An enthralling hour of theatre…’ No More Workhorse
‘A perfect hour’s entertainment…’ Katy Hayes, Irish Independent
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
On Saturday, 1 November 2025 at 6.30pm, journalist and Joyce scholar Senan Molony unveiled a striking new celestial discovery hidden within James Joyce’s Ulysses.
What if the blazing trail of Halley’s Comet streaks not only through the heavens, but through the very pages of the 20th century’s greatest novel? Join us as Molony explores how Joyce’s fascination with astronomy, astrology, and cosmic symbolism illuminates the intertwined fates of Leopold Bloom, Molly, and Blazes Boylan — each orbiting their destinies like heavenly bodies in an eternal dance.
Timed to coincide with the arrival of a new interstellar visitor to our solar system in late 2025, this lecture invited you to look upward — and inward. Through wit, insight, and meticulous research, Molony revealed Ulysses as not just a Dublin odyssey, but a cosmic one.
Senan Molony is a journalist for Mediahuis Ireland covering the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent. An accomplished author, Molony has written extensively on Irish history, James Joyce and the Titanic.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The James Joyce Centre was pleased to host the Intercultural Language Service (ILS) in the launch of its latest book of plurilingual poetry in the Dubylon series, Dubeloving, on Wednesday, 22 October 2025 at 6.30pm.
Curated by the poets Fiona Bolger and Rafael Mendez, Dubeloving: From the People of Dubylon is an anthology of plurilingual writing from the 2025 Dubeloving workshops involving people of broadly diverse communities who have been exploring love as tenderness, a struggle for justice, even losing hope sometimes.
ILS seeks to promote social inclusion for newer community members through community-based language and (inter)cultural training, and to foster social cohesion in the communities and areas of Dublin City where New-Irish reside through intercultural encounters, activities and events.
Poets from all over the world (including Palestine, Nigeria, Iraq, France, Brazil, Eswatini, Greece, Syria and Poland) read from their work. After the readings, the audience enjoyed wine and barmbrack.
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
