300 Readers ~ 30 Hours

Thank You for Joining Thornwillow Press and the Thornwillow Institute for our celebratory Bloomsyear Centennial Reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses! The epic continues!

Readers of Ulysses follow Leopold Bloom throughout Dublin on June 16, 1904—dubbed “Bloomsday” not long after its 1922 publication. Bloomsday has been held annually on June 16 since 1924 and has taken many forms over the years, from readings to pub crawls to reenactments in period costumes.

We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of this iconic masterwork over the course of a “Bloomsyear,” with a pre-recorded relay-style video event: a reading of the entire novel by 300 readers over the course of 30+ hours. This tapestry of clips  unites an international community of writers, actors, curators, collectors, scholars, and other friends of Thornwillow Press—a community of bookmakers and readers who together celebrate the written word.

Our Readers: No matter your personal history (or lack thereof) with Ulysses, you will find a reader to relate to here. Oliver Jeffers, who opens the series, reads it for the first time, as do many of our participants. Malachy McCourt, who closes Episode One, shares his 41st Bloomsday reading – and a number of our scholars, curators, collectors, and actors are as familiar with the text as he.  Stephen Fry, who years ago composed a 90-second love letter to “Ulysses,” closes Episode Four. And Salman Rushdie, who once recapped the plot in 20 seconds, opens Episode Five.

A number of participants read in magical locations, for instance:

·       Collector and blogger Glenn Johnston reads in front of the former NYC office of The Little Review, the first publisher of Ulysses in serial form;

·       Screen and TV writer Patrick Macmanus reads in front of Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, where Ulysses was born in book form.

·       Chris Cerf, whose father Bennett Cerf first published Ulysses in the US, reads in front of the old Random House building;

·       Rob Doyle reads atop the Martello Tower next door to that of “Buck Mulligan” in the opening chapter;

·       Thornwillow’s friends at the University of Buffalo Special Collections appear in front of their Joyce mural in downtown Buffalo, and their offices and, exhibition space;

A number of curators, collectors, and book dealers read from special copies, for instance:

·       A first edition copy Joyce inscribed to his brother, Stanislaus, read from by book dealer Michael DiRuggiero at Manhattan Rare Books;

·       A first edition copy Joyce inscribed to H.G. Wells, read from by book dealers Kait Manning and Jill Mann at Pirages;

·       A first edition copy Joyce inscribed to F. Scott Fitzgerald, read from by a curator Michael C. Weisenburg at USC;

·       Curator Tim Young illustrates his reading with rare source material from the Beinecke Library at Yale;

·       Shakespeare & Co. Project curator Josh Kotin reads from proofs at Princeton;

·      Participants also read from Joyce material on display at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin; at the New York Public Library; the Morgan Library & Museum; The Rosenbach; and more!

Our Bloomsyear readings are notable for the many personal introductions by our readers, explaining how they came to the project. Whether they have a deep history with Ulysses or are picking it up for the first time now, each of them shows us something about what it means to read Joyce. Their readings make it more approachable for those who are, as actor Taylor Nichols describes himself, “Ulysses virgins,” and for those who have encountered Ulysses in the past, they make it exciting to return.

Watch episodes below

With thanks to our many readers and to our friends at Symphony Space, the Morgan Museum and Library, The University of Buffalo Special Collections, the Museum of Literature Ireland, the Beinecke Library at Yale, Princeton Library Special Collections, the Rosenbach,  the New York Public Library, Vassar College Special Collections, University of South Carolina Special Collections, and the James Joyce Society NY.

STEPHEN FRY
SALMAN RUSHDIE
DAVID MAMET
MALACHY MCCOURT
OLIVER JEFFERS
KATHLEEN CHALFANT
COLUM MCCANN
AEDIN MOLONEY
CLARE HUTTON
BILL GOLDSTEIN
DONNA LYNNE CHAMPLIN
TIM O’BRIEN
ROB DOYLE
MARK HUSSEY
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III
PETER LERANGIS
ROBERT SEIDMAN
ALISON FRASER
WILL HEARST
DECLAN KIBERD
CHARL BROWN
LESLIE JAMISON

REBECCA PIDGEON
PHIL KLAY
PATTY MARX
AMBASSADOR DAN MULHALL
BRíAN O’BYRNE
JENNIFER VANDERBES
GLENN JOHNSTON
EDOARDO BALLERINI
ALLY BUNBURY
TURTLE BUNBURY
TINA deVARON
ROSANNE CASH
GREGG HURWITZ
RANDY COHEN
SUSIE LOPEZ
BENJAMIN DREYER
REBECCA DONNER
LOACHLANN Ó MEARáIN
PETER DUCHAN
KHRIS LEWIN
DOMINIC WEST
RACHEL COHEN

PAUL HECHT
ANDREW SOLOMON
KIRSTEN VANGNESS
BRIAN BOYD
SARAH MacDONNELL
LOTTE WAKEHAM
ELLEN ADAIR
DAWN AKEMI SAITO
MICHAEL SIMON HALL
RICHARD NASH
RODNEY LOPEZ
MICHAEL SCHULMAN
BARRETT LEDDY
DANA FUCHS
KEVIN MACKALL
PATRICK MYLES
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
CHRIS CERF
KATHERINE VAZ
BRIEN LANG
BEN LOORY
WINSOME BROWN