Why do you think it’s called BLOOMSday? As they’ve been doing every year since the turn of the century, Portland Hibernians gathered for their take on the day. Some pictures and captions from (belated) Bloomsday on June 18, 2026 at Kells Restaurant in Downtown Portland.

Bloomsday. Has any other novel ever inspired annual celebrations as Ulysses has? James Joyce’s masterwork was banned in America during the 1920s. Then a Republican Judge in New York City read it and ruled that it wasn’t obscene. The rest is literary history.

Ninety years ago this month, American readers were getting their first look at a modern masterpiece written by the Irish author James Joyce; only made possible due to a fascinating court battle.