Gabriel Rosenstock facts for kids
Gabriel Rosenstock (born 29 September 1949) is an Irish writer. He mostly writes in the Irish language. He is a member of Aosdána, which is like an Irish academy for arts and letters. Gabriel is a poet, a writer of plays, a haiku writer, and a translator. He has written or translated over 180 books. He was born in Kilfinane, County Limerick, and now lives in Dublin.
About Gabriel Rosenstock
Gabriel's father, George, was a doctor and writer from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He worked as a medical officer during World War II. Gabriel's mother was a nurse from County Galway. Gabriel was the third of six children. He was the first of his siblings born in Ireland. He went to school in Kilfinane, then in Mount Sackville, County Dublin.
He was very interested in new ideas when he was young. He moved from Gormanston College (County Meath) to Rockwell College (County Tipperary). Later, he studied at University College Cork.
His son, Tristan, plays in the Irish traditional music band Téada. His nephew, Mario Rosenstock, is a well-known impressionist and actor.
Gabriel's Work
Gabriel Rosenstock worked for a while on the TV show Anois is Arís on RTÉ. He also worked for the newspaper Anois. Before he retired, he worked with An Gúm. This is the publishing part of Foras na Gaeilge, which helps promote the Irish language.
Even though he has written prose (like stories), plays, and done translations, Gabriel is best known as a poet. He has written or translated over 180 books.
He has helped create books of haiku in Irish, English, Scots, and Japanese. He has translated many poems from other languages into Irish. These include works by famous poets like Seamus Heaney and Rabindranath Tagore. He has also translated plays by writers like Samuel Beckett and songs by musicians like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. He even translates classical songs into Irish.
His work was featured in the book Best European Fiction 2012. In 2015, he gave a main speech at Haiku Canada.
Gabriel was named a Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism. This inspired one of his haiku collections called Antlered Stag of Dawn. This book has haiku in Irish and English, with translations into Japanese and Scots.
Gabriel has worked with many photographers. They create a special kind of art called photo-haiku, or haiga. This mixes pictures with poetry.
He also writes books for children, both stories and poems. His book Haiku Más É Do Thoil É! won a special prize for children's books in 2015.
In 2023, Gabriel translated the ancient Tamil text Thirukkural into the Irish language for the first time.
Awards and Honours
Gabriel Rosenstock has received many awards and honours:
- Member of Aosdána (Irish academy of arts & letters)
- Laoch Lorcáin 2024
- Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism
- Former Chairman of Poetry Ireland/Éigse Éireann
- Corresponding Member of the Hellenic Authors' Society
- Member of the Board of Advisors to Poetry India
- Tamgha-I-Khidmat medal from Pakistan for his work in literature.
- Honorary Life Member of the Irish Translators and Interpreters Association
- He taught haiku at the Schule für Dichtung (Poetry Academy) in Vienna. He also taught at the Hyderabad Literary Festival.
- In 2023, he received the Annual Children’s Books Ireland Award. This was for his great contribution to children’s books.
Selected Works
Gabriel Rosenstock has written many books. Here are some examples of his different types of work:
- Poetry in Irish and Bilingual Editions
- Susanne sa seomra folctha. Clódhanna 1973
- Bliain an Bhandé/ Year of the Goddess. Dedalus Press 2007
- Margadh na Míol in Valparaíso/ The Flea Market in Valparaíso (new and selected poems) CIC 2014
- Drops of Water, haiku in English, Irish and Scots, free ebook [1] 2023
- Criticism and Essays
- Ólann mo mhiúil as an nGainséis (My mule drinks from the Ganges). Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2003
- Éist leis an gCruinne. Evertype, 2014
- Poetry in English
- Portrait of the Artist as an Abominable Snowman. Forest Books, 1989
- Hymn to the Earth. The Silverstrand Press, 2004. (Poems and photography by Ron Rosenstock)
- I Met a Man from Artikelly: Verse for the young and young at heart. Evertype, 2013
- Fluttering their way into my head: An exploration of Haiku for young people. Evertype, 2013
- Novel in Irish
- Lacertidae. (Novella) Coiscéim, 1994
- Children's Books
Gabriel Rosenstock has written many poetry books for children. You can find some of them here:
- Free Kids Books [2]
- Translations
- March hare, 1994. Short stories from the Irish language author Pádraic Breathnach
- An Thirukkural as Gaeilge, 2023. This is his translation of the ancient Thirukkural.
- Books in English
- The Wasp in the Mug: Unforgettable Irish Proverbs. Mercier Press, 1993
- Haiku Enlightenment (essay) Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2005
- My Head is Missing 2012 (Detective novel)
- Other Media
- DVD: The Light Within (poetry, photography and soundscape, with Ron Rosenstock and Eugene Skeef)
- Recorded Media: Video readings in the Irish Poetry Reading Archive, UCD Digital Library, University College Dublin. Also Haiku as Gaeilge.
- Textbooks: Beginner's Irish, Hippocrene Books, New York, 2005.
