Ireland 2026 is open now for registration!
Step into the world of Ulysses——no phd required.■
Ireland 2026
Wake up in Trinity College on Bloomsday, a day when Dubliners celebrate the world of James Joyce’s Ulysses and dress up as its characters. Think: Halloween for bookworms.
Once through the campus gates you'll be within a few steps from Ireland’s best restaurants, art galleries, and literary hubs.
Led by Literary Odysseys founder, Zein El-Amine, walk along the same footsteps as Bloom—the protagonist of Ulysses, and reshape the understanding of our place as readers in the world.
[ About ]■
Literary Odysseys creates immersive, place-based reading journeys that bring literature off the page and into the world. Participants are invited to read books in the very places where they are set—walking the streets, landscapes, and neighborhoods that shaped the stories, the authors, and the histories behind them.
Originally developed as university courses and later reimagined as independent programs, Literary Odysseys has guided small groups of readers through countries such as Ireland, Egypt, and Morocco, pairing close reading with cultural context, historical inquiry, and thoughtful travel.
Participants don’t just study literature—they live alongside it: following Leopold Bloom’s footsteps through Dublin while reading Ulysses, navigating Cairo’s neighborhoods through the novels of Naguib Mahfouz, or grappling with postcolonial and autobiographical narratives in Tangier while reading Mohamed Choukri and contemporary critics of the literary gaze.
[ DESTINATIONS ]Featured Odysseys
This guided literary tour blends close reading, cultural immersion, and place-based exploration—following the geography of Ulysses while experiencing Ireland beyond the page.
The experience begins with pre-departure orientation sessions (June 8–12), including guided pre-reading, contextual lectures, and a clear week-at-a-glance overview to prepare you for Bloomsday and beyond.
We arrive in Ireland on June 15, stepping straight into the heart of the novel. Bloomsday (June 16) is spent at key Joycean sites, including the James Joyce Tower and St. Stephen’s Green, where public readings animate the city. Over the following days in Dublin, we explore the James Joyce Centre, walk Bloom’s routes, visit Glasnevin Cemetery, and experience the city through food, art, and conversation.
Midway through the trip, we travel west to Galway, balancing literary discussion with traditional music, local markets, and Ireland’s dramatic Atlantic coastline. Highlights include a visit to Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop and a full-day excursion to Inishmore.
Returning to Dublin, we conclude with a literary pub crawl, museum visits, and a final hike in Howth, home to the novel’s iconic proposal scene. A closing dinner brings the journey full circle before departure on June 24.
This itinerary is designed to be immersive but humane—thoughtful without being rushed, and rooted equally in text, place, and shared experience.
Book: Ulysses by James Joyce
Books:
For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri;
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles;
Morocco Bound by Brian T. Edwards
Morocco (2014 - 2019)
In Morocco, we read Mohamed Choukri’s For Bread Alone alongside Paul Bowles’s The Sheltering Sky and the postcolonial analysis of Morocco Bound, blending literary discussion with encounters with contemporary Moroccan life.
Books:
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Egypt (2008-2012)
In Cairo, we read Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk and Midaq Alley and discussed Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero while navigating the very neighborhoods that shaped these writers’ imaginations.
At the heart of Literary Odysseys is the belief that reading is a collective, embodied act. These journeys foster deep engagement with complex texts by situating them within lived space and shared conversation. Reading together across borders opens new interpretations and challenges assumptions about culture, identity, authorship, and belonging. It also raises important questions about power, representation, tourism, and ethics central to responsible global reading.
Literary Odysseys is intentionally small-scale, inclusive, and community-driven. Participants support one another through the reading material, and engage in dialogue across linguistic, cultural, and religious differences. Without institutional gatekeeping, the program welcomes writers, educators, students, and curious readers who are eager to think deeply and travel thoughtfully
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Our Founder
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Zein El-Amine
I'm Zein El-Amine — writer, educator, and literary organizer dedicated to exploring how place transforms the way we read and write.
Over the past decade, I’ve led immersive Literary Journey programs in Egypt, Morocco, and Ireland, where participants read books in the very settings that inspired them. These journeys blend deep reading, cultural immersion, and place-based pedagogy to make literature a living, collective experience.
My work challenges the idea that literature is confined to classrooms or solitary study. Walking through Cairo’s alleys while reading Naguib Mahfouz, tracing Leopold Bloom’s path through Dublin, or reading Mohamed Choukri in Tangier opens new ways of engaging with narrative, identity, and belonging. Participants—students, writers, and educators alike—discover how geography and community shape interpretation and creativity.
Originally developed in collaboration with the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House at the University of Maryland, these programs have evolved into Literary Odysseys, a broader initiative that brings together diverse readers to engage deeply with text, history, and place. My teaching and travel-based literary practice invite others to read responsibly across borders and to imagine more inclusive, globally aware approaches to literature.
At the core of my work is a belief that stories live not only on the page but in the landscapes, languages, and communities that give rise to them. Through immersive reading and shared exploration, I aim to build bridges between worlds—literary, cultural, and human.
[ TESTIMONIALS ]"To be taught how to travel by Zein is to learn how we are meant to pass through our time here on earth as observers - sharing what should have ultimately been an unbordered earth. Under Zein's instructions, the unfamiliar becomes familiar, without possession, without a need to insist on common areas of life.
Connections, within the group and with the country, are established, strengthened, and encouraged through our differences, not through our forced and unnatural similarities."
Aiyah Sibay, Morocco
"I'll never forget the day Zein stood before us in class and defined to us the difference between a traveler and a tourist. I was 19, and my world was just beginning to open before my eyes. And how incredibly lucky I was to land on Zein's definition and vision of travel, before I began what would evolve into a decade's worth of wondering."
Aiyah Sibay, Morocco
[ FAQ ]Common Questions
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Lodging, tour guides, ground transportation for all 10 days.
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