An international multi-disciplinary celebration of women’s creativity inspired by James Joyce’s most famous female character, Molly Bloom, from his epic novel Ulysses.

Fiona Shaw, Dame Harriet Walter, Eve Hewson, Siobhan McSweeney and Adjoa Andoh were among 8 award-winning stage and screen actors who took part in The Molly Films – world premiered at the YES Festival.

The YES Festival was Ireland’s inaugural all women artists festival, a cross border and cross community programme of events which took place in Derry~Londonderry and north-east Donegal, June 13-16, 2024 and was inspired by the final Episode 18 (Penelope) of Ulysses, more familiarly known as Molly’s Soliloquy. 

YES Festival was the culmination of ULYSSES European Odyssey 2022-2024, an unprecedented Creative Europe project across 18 European cities and was the concept of its Lead Artistic Partner, ARTS OVER BORDERS Ireland (which is co-funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland). Its programme has seen literary museums, activist community organisations, artists from the visual arts, film and theatre along with festivals of photography, light and literature take Joyce’s novel as the starting point to explore contemporary issues, from migration to the environment, disability to mental well-being and democracy to The Future: A Female Vision; the theme set for its grand finale in Ireland.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.