June 16th, Bloomsday, is one of the most famous single days in literature. A day celebrated all over the world. Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June, the day his 1922 novel Ulysses takes place in 1904, the date of his first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, and named after its protagonist Leopold Bloom.

The Bloomsday celebration in Oxford is happening this year for the 40th year without a break. It was brought to life and organised from the first, and every year since, by Michael Henry. The event has always been a combination of music and literature, reflecting Mick Henry's own expertise. He is an outstanding singer with a vast repertoire of Irish songs and knowledge of their history.

Usually the gathering is held upstairs at Oxford’s Port Mahon, but his year due to the lockdown it will be streamed virtually in the medium of a film screening, with dedicated online contributions recorded by writers Terry Eagleton, Tom Paulin, Iggy McGovern, Keith Hopper and Bernard O'Donoghue, and by musicians Gerald Garcia, Nick Hooper and others (some of the contributions from Ireland). There are also some previous recordings from other Bloomsdays and literary events.

Adrian O’Neill, Irish Ambassador to the UK, sent a message on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Oxford’s Bloomsday. (see below page 3).

“I am delighted to extend my best wishes to Oxford’s Bloomsday celebration on this especially auspicious occasion, which marks the 40th anniversary of the event. It is also Oxford Bloomsday’s first celebration in this new, socially distant but virtually connected space. While different in character, I have no doubt it will be equally impactful.

Mick Henry deserves enormous credit for promoting a successful Bloomsday each year… the following extract from Ulysses will no doubt resonate with Mick:
“The Year Returns. History repeats itself. Ye crags and peaks I’m with you once again.”

To everyone in Britain and around the globe who are partaking in this Joycean celebration, I wish you a happy Bloomsday. Beir bua agus beannacht.”

Poet and performer Bernard O'Donoghue said,
“Apart from the Bloomsday events, Mick Henry has been the main organizer of Irish cultural events in Oxford for more than forty years. From 1986 to 1990, he organizer a series of festivals called Oxford-Ireland from 1986, which brought a major galaxy of Irish stars: as well as those I have mentioned, poets Paul Muldoon, Paul Durcan, Michael Longley, Medbh McGuckian and Eavan Boland, and musicians Christy Moore, Dolores Keane, Jackie Daly, Kevin Burke, Arty McGlyn, Nollaig Casey, Maire Ni Chathasaigh. This is a long list, but there is no doubt that few of those would have come to Oxford without Mick Henry's initiative. We think it would be appropriate to acknowledge his importance to Irish cultural life in Oxford at this extraordinary juncture this year.

Performers:

Bernard O'Donoghue is a contemporary poet and academic. He was a emeritus fellow and tutor in Olde English and Medieval English, Linguistics and the History of the English Language, Modern Irish Literature, Yeats and Joyce at Wadham College from 1995 to 2011.
Bernard received the 1995 Whitbread prize for Poetry for his collection Gunpowder, and the Cholmondeley Award in 2009. He has also been shortlisted multiple times for the T.S. Eliot Prize. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999. He succeeded Seamus Heaney as Honorary President of the Irish Literary Society of London in 2014.

Terry Eagleton is a British literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University.

Tom Paulin is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he is the G. M. Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford.

Gerald Garcia is a classical guitarist and composer.

Nick Hooper is a British film and television composer. His most famous score was for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. He has also released a solo album ‘six strings’ and performed many times with Mick Henry and Bernard O’Donoghue.

Keith Hopper teaches Literature, Film Studies, and Digital Humanities for Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education. He is the author of Flann O’Brien: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Post-modernist.

Iggy Mcgovern was Professor of Physics in Trinity College, Dublin until retirement in 2013. He is now Fellow Emeritus at Trinity. Iggy has published three collections of poetry. ‘The King of Suburbia’ won the inaugural Glen Dimplex New Writers Award for Poetry. Other awards include the Hennessy Award for Poetry and The Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary.

There is also music from Pam Cooper and John Pethica, Teresa Moran and her daughter Caitriona, and Mick Henry’s daughter, Anna Henry among others.