Bloomsday is once again being marked in Ireland and around the world, celebrating James Joyce's famed novel Ulysses, which this year celebrates 100 years since its publication.
Retracing the steps of Joyce's protagonist, Leopold Bloom, walking tours around Dublin were among the events taking place to mark the day.
The annual celebration also saw the return of readings and plays following two years of disruption due to Covid-19.
Mirroring The Odyssey by Homer, Ulysses is divided into three parts, or 18 'episodes', detailing the encounters of Bloom on June 16th, 1904, leading Joyce fans to celebrate Bloomsday on this date each year.
Fans take to the streets of Dublin dressed as characters from the novel, or the author himself, to follow Bloom's path through the city or to re-enact excerpts from the book.
One such re-enactment was of Paddy Dignam's funeral procession, held at Glasnevin Cemetery on Thursday morning, while the Pro Cathedral also hosted a Bloomsday reading for the first time.
The celebrations are also due to continue into the weekend, with a 90-minute walking tour taking place on both Saturday and Sunday along the banks of the Royal Canal.
As the novel was first published in Paris on February 2nd, 1922, Joyce's 40th birthday, the French Embassy in Dublin also marked Bloomsday.
The event, held at the French Ambassdor's residence on Ailsbury Road, included food referenced in the novel, the iconic bars of lemon soap, and a reading in English, French and Ukrainian, marking 25 years of the Franco-Irish Ulysses research programme.
