Good question - and one I frequently ask myself.

There's absolutely no rational reason to mark this day, but because of some strange quirk in the human psyche, or at least in some among us, there seems to be a need to recreate this day in cities around the world with readings from Ulysses and other works of Joyce, and with music, song and merriment which were all hugely important in Joyce's life.

BLOOMSDAY has become a growth industry world wide in recent years and now more so since Ulysses was voted "Book of the Century" in recent polls, and Joyce was cited as one of the "Most Influential Writers of the Century" in TIME magazine.

June 16^th has been celebrated by writers, the artistic and literary communities since the book was first published in 1922. New York has had a major event on that day for decades. The Jameson Global BLOOMSDAY Readings on the Internet will no doubt lead to a whole new audience for BLOOMSDAY celebrations around the world. It is worth noting that the Toronto celebrations predate Dublin's.

One of the main reasons for the popularity of the event is that Ulysses is a treasure trove. Contrary to popular belief, it lends itself to being read aloud and/or dramatised in a way that very few other texts do. It's a hugely satisfying book because it embraces all of life and the complexity of life as experienced by everyone, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, the intellectual and the simpleton.

Ulysses is a celebration of life which ends with Molly's life-affirming "Yes".

The celebratory components of BLOOMSDAY satisfy people's craving for some form of ritual in their lives; in an era that is virtually devoid of ritual, BLOOMSDAY helps fill that void. This may account for the popularity of BLOOMSDAY in general and the BLOOMSDAY HOOLEY in particular, and why increasing numbers of people mark the day in their calendar and take the day off work to participate.

Toronto has a long-standing association with Joyce and BLOOMSDAY dating back to the 60s when a Torontonian, Harry Pollock started a James Joyce Society, had BLOOMSDAY celebrations and produced/directed a very successful dramatization of Ulysses in Nighttown at the Poor Alex Theatre in 1967. I discovered these fascinating facts last December when I visited the James Joyce Centre in Dublin.

Letters written by Harry Pollock in Toronto to the Joyce family in Dublin are on display at the James Joyce Centre. It seems that Mr. Pollock was acquainted with Joyce's niece, Eithne Joyce, who presently lives with her family in Mississauga.

Saul Field, a renowned Toronto painter, saw Pollack's production and was inspired to produce a series of embossed colour engravings based on Ulysses called "BLOOMSDAY SUITE". These were acclaimed internationally and were exhibited extensively in Canada, the U.S. and in Europe. His portrait-print of Joyce was accepted as the official portrait of the Joyce Foundation. In 1972 this series of engravings was published by the New York Graphic Society in a wonderful collection entitled BLOOMSDAY. An interpretation of James Joyce's Ulysses.