Nora Barnacle

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Nora Barnacle
Nora Barnacle, c. 1926 in this cropped photograph by Berenice Abbott
Born	Norah Barnacle (1884-03-21)21 March 1884 Galway, Ireland
Died	10 April 1951(1951-04-10) (aged 67) Zurich, Switzerland
Spouse	James Joyce ​ ​ (m. 1931; died 1941)​
Children	2, including Lucia Joyce
Relatives	Stephen James Joyce (grandson)

Nora Barnacle Joyce (born Norah Barnacle; 21 March 1884 – 10 April 1951) was the muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce. Barnacle and Joyce had their first romantic outing in 1904 on a date celebrated worldwide as "Bloomsday" after his modernist novel Ulysses. Barnacle did not, however, enjoy the novel. Their sexually explicit letters have aroused much curiosity, especially as Joyce normally disapproved of coarse language, and they fetch high prices at auction. In 2004, an erotic letter from Joyce to Barnacle sold at Sotheby's for £240,800.

Barnacle and Joyce's life together has been the subject of much popular interest. A 1980 play, Nora Barnacle by Maureen Charlton, was made about their relationship. Barnacle was the subject of a 1988 biography, Nora: A Biography of Nora Joyce, by Brenda Maddox, which was adapted into a 2000 Irish film, Nora, directed by Pat Murphy, and starring Susan Lynch and Ewan McGregor.