Celebrated annually on June 16, Bloomsday celebrates the life and times of Irish author James Joyce.

The name and the date of this unofficial holiday come from Joyce’s epic novel, Ulysses. Published in 1922 as a novel, the book follows Leopold Bloom, an advertising agent as he goes about his day in Dublin on June 16, 1904. According to some sources, June 16, 1904 is the date when Joyce met his future wife Nora Barnacle.