Bloomsday

Yes, it's June 16, Bloomsday, celebrated the world over by readers and fans of James Joyce. This is the date on which all the events in Ulysses occurred as Leopold Bloom wandered around Dublin City, circumnavigating his thoughts. Indeed I did read the book from cover to cover. Took me three months. And even then, I doubt I could have done it if I hadn't listened first to that amazing word-for-word radio production by RTE back in 1982. It was broadcast live over three days and Canada was one of the few countries which took the full production. Brought my radio into work and lost a lot of sleep. It was utterly brilliant. You could really "hear" what Joyce was doing. PS this is the pic of Joyce dancing which hangs over my desk. The greatest gift he gave to writers is this: you don't have to be strangled by classical narrative form. If your story or your words want to go elsewhere - let them.