Alba Publishing, 2018

A transcreation from the Irish of Gabriel Rosenstock.

In 2014, the late Gabriel Rosenstock wrote Sasquatch, a series of 66 interlinked lyric poems published by Arlen House. As Dileep Jhaveri of India noted, ‘A rare animal seen by very few is the Sasquatch; so, too, the Poet. In these poems the Sasquatch watches the ephemeral world around him and is watched. The surprises multiply and both the watcher and the watched are united in One. With transparency of words and density of vision Gabriel Rosenstock reveals the poet within the reader.’

The figure of the last Sasquatch raises questions about extinction, biodiversity loss, and what it is to be ensouled. Bell’s transcreation changes the gender of the Sasquatch to female, with moving results.

The collection includes a section where Bell interviews Rosenstock about his artistic process, including the concept of transcreation. The writers did a number of bilingual readings from their Sasquatch books in Ireland and India in 2019.

‘An exceptional book.’ —Doireann Ní Ghríofa