THE BEST-LOVED POEMS FROM THE IRISH: SELECTED TRANSLATIONS OF GABRIEL FITZMAURICE
From the canonical to the contemporary, this dual language anthology showcases the best of Gabriel Fitzmaurice’s translations from Irish. It is essential reading, not only for lovers of poetry but for anyone interested in the Irish tradition.
From Dáibhí Ó Bruadair and Aogán Ó Rathaille in the seventeenth century, through modernists Máirtín Ó Direáin and Seán Ó Ríordáin, to the contemporary Áine Ní Ghlinn and Cathal Ó Searcaigh, this selection collects some of the best and most memorable poems in the Irish language, ranging from the displacement and dispossession of the Irish in centuries past to genocide in Gaza today.
As Gabriel’s publisher Mercier are proud to announce that the acclaimed poet, writer, musician, broadcaster, translator, singer and raconteur was chosen by the Kerry Association in Dublin as the 2025 recipient of the Kerry Association in Dublin Arts Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Arts.
‘One of our leading translators of Irish poetry into English’ – Seamus Cashman,
‘Indispensable translations’ – Bernard O’Donoghue
A perfect capturing of the metre and musicality of formal, classical poems, bringing them across, sound and sense, into English. Gabriel is equally skilled at translating free verse. The collection contains great love songs and poems, poems of emigration, poems of people and place, a paean to the quenching of thirst, a prayer and An Phurgóid/The Purge, Mícheál Ó hAirtnéide’s long meditation on poets and poetry today.
Gabriel Fitzmaurice was born in 1952 in the village of Moyvane, County Kerry, where he still lives. He is principal of the primary school in the village and is the author of more than thirty books, including collections of poetry in English and Irish. His books of verse for children have become classics. Gabriel frequently broadcasts on radio and television on education and the arts.
