This June is full of cultural events organised by the Embassy of Ireland. They are as follows:
Irish writer, editor and publisher Eimear Ryan will be in conversation with Spanish writer, actress and former gymnast Almudena Cid (pictured) in the Europa Pavilion at this year’s Book Fair on Friday 14 June at 7.30pm to discuss the role of women in sport, the challenges they face and how their writing has captured their own personal experiences.
This year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Madrid Bloomsday Society, they will host Penelope’s Dream, an opera by Spanish conductor and composer Pedro Halffter, on Thursday 13 June at 19.30 at the Ateneo de Madrid. The programme will feature Ashley Bell on soprano, Juan Carlos Garvayo and Pedro Halffter on piano and stage director Antón Armendariz Díaz. Admission is free and seats are available until full capacity is reached. For more information, please contact the Bloomsday Society at bloomsdaysociety@gmail.com.
Tourism Ireland is organising a number of Bloomsday activities this year which we will be reporting on in the coming days. You can find out about all the events taking place in Madrid and throughout Spain here.
The English language bookshop Desperate Literature in Madrid, in collaboration with Culture Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Bloomsday Society, are organising a Bloomsday Festival at the Ateneo de Madrid on Sunday 16 June at 7pm. Guests include John Banville, Lisa Hannigan and Eimear McBride. Admission is free.
For this year’s Bloomsday, the Irish Cultural Association of Valencia is organising readings and songs from Ulysses on Sunday 16 June at 11am at Metropolis Irish Bistro (c/ Cuba, 48, Ruzafa), with a second reading of a selection from the programme next to the Duck Pond in Viveros Park at 7pm.
La Línea de la Concepción will join in the Bloomsday celebrations on Friday morning, 14 June, starting with a visit to the city market, a special Irish breakfast at Café Modelo and readings at the José Riquelme Library, La Gorgo Libros & Café and Librería Ares.
At the Teatro Bretón in Logroño, Bloomsday will be present with the opera El sueño de Penélope (Penelope’s Dream) on Saturday 15 June at 8pm. This is the same opera that will also be performed at the Ateneo de Madrid with the Bloomsday Society.
Malaga will celebrate Bloomsday in collaboration with the University of Malaga and the Irish pub Morriseys, organised by Ray Smyth and the Spanish writer Carlos Pérez Torres. On Sunday 16 June there will be readings and songs for the gathering at the Baños del Carmen.
In Barcelona, Bloomsday will be held at Documenta bookshop on Sunday 16 June at 1pm. The Calders bookshop will also organise some readings. The Bloom literary school is also planning various activities.
The Amergin Poetry Festival in A Coruña, organised in collaboration with three local cultural groups, will take place from 27 to 29 June. The festival will begin with a musical evening on Thursday 27 June, at 9 p.m. in the Pub Delirium Coruña. On Friday 28 June, there will be a cultural event at the Centro Alexandre Bóveda from 6pm, with talks on Irish poetry and Ireland’s relationship with Galicia. On Saturday 29 June, the traditional Festival will be held on the beach under the Tower of Hercules, from 19.30, with the participation of poets, artists, singers and pipers. For more information, please email david.clark@udc.gal.
Finally, the Irish music group Fiárock and the Luna Celta Irish Dance Academy have organised a special concert in collaboration with Culture Ireland and Madrid City Council on Saturday 29 June at 7pm at the Centro Cultural Casa de Vacas (El Retiro). Admission is free until full capacity is reached.
