In the face of threats to free speech and attempts to ban books, the worldwide ritual known as Bloomsday is an annual call from the literary heights to stand up to censorship, and have some fun doing it.
Santa Barbara’s part in Bloomsday will return to the James Joyce Pub on Monday, June 16; doors open at 5:30 p.m. and readings start at 6 p.m.
Bloomsday is an annual salute to “Ulysses,” the famed novel by Irish writer James Joyce. Since 2022, two local writers — Jim Buckley and D.J. Palladino — have gathered a group of local actors, writers and others to celebrate Bloomsday.
Selections from the 1922 novel are read at the James Joyce, 513 State St. The reason for the June 16 date is because that’s the day in 1904 on which Joyce set his groundbreaking book.
The event is free to attend, but donations are encouraged for the Santa Barbara Library Foundation in support of its efforts to make sure all books are available to all readers.
Upon its publication in 1922, “Ulysses” itself was banned in the United States for more than a decade.
The producers of Santa Barbara’s Bloomsday say they are doing the show in part as a protest against movements to ban books happening nationwide.
“We’ve been doing this for four years now, and each year it seems like the goalposts keep getting moved,” said Buckley. “The battle to free books from being taken away by close-minded, ignorant people is ongoing and we hope Bloomsday is our small contribution to eventual victory.”
Returning Santa Barbara Bloomsday performers include Santa Barbara Film Festival director Roger Durling; award-winning local performers Matt Tavainini, James, McCarthy, Henry Brown, and Bill Egan, Santa Barbara teacher James Claffey, stage and film actor Bobby Lesser; and the poet/writers Chryss Yost and George Yatchisin. (Yatchisin is the current Santa Barbara Poet Laureate.)
Bloomsday also welcomes new talent to the pub stage, including TV and movie actor James Read (seen most recently in “Bosch: Legacy”); and local author/columnist Starshine Roshell making make her Bloomsday debut.
Emma Jane Huerta, founder of the Kerfuffle Theater Company and a leader of Summer Solstice, will take on the key role of Molly Bloom.
In “Ulysses’ ” more than 800 pages, and using an array of styles and treatments, Joyce said he was trying to make all of life come together in one day in one city — Dublin, Ireland.
The hero of “Ulysses,” which is modeled on Homer’s Greek epic “The Odyssey,” is Leopold Bloom. His wife Molly is a key figure, along with Stephen Dedalus, a young teacher who was also the hero of Joyce’s earlier work “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”
The James Joyce Pub will be offering happy hour pricing, while light refreshments, based on food served in the book, will be offered.
For more information, contact Buckley at shoreline564@gmail.com.