Gabriel Rosenstock (Class of 1967) RIP

Gabriel Rosenstock

The Rockwell College Union was saddened to hear of the passing of writer and poet, Gabriel Rosenstock (Class 1967), and extends its condolences to his family.

 Gabriel was born in Kilfinane, Co. Limerick and attended Rockwell where he was the winner of the Thomas McDonagh Literary Award and Editor of the Rockwellian magazine which was a prescient sign of his extraordinary accomplishments as a writer and poet. Gabriel published over 400 books, translating international poetry and songs by Bob Dylan, Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell into Irish, and his works included children’s literature in prose and verse, plays, novels, essays and short stories.

 He won numerous awards, including the Children’s Books Judges’ Special Award in 2015 for his book Haiku Más É Do Thoil É! (An Gúm). Other works include Irish editions of The Gruffalo (An Garbhán), Sa Tóir ar an Yeití (Cló Mhaigh Eo) and Birbal (Cló Iar-Chonnacht). He was a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of arts and letters and was also a former chairman of Poetry Ireland/Éigse Éireann. He had a particular affinity for the Japanese form of the haiku, and his seventeen-syllable verses were published in various Irish language publications, including the daily Irish language newspaper Lá/Lá Nua.

 ‘Ní críoch ach ath-fhás’