Rosenstock's father was a doctor and writer from Schleswig-Holstein; his mother a nurse from County Galway. Gabriel was the third of six children and the first born in Ireland. He attended Rockwell College and the National University of Ireland, Cork.

Rosenstock worked for some time on the television series Anois is Arís on RTÉ, then on the weekly newspaper Anois. Until his retirement he worked with An Gúm, the publications branch of the North-South body which promotes the Irish language, Foras na Gaeilge.

Although he has worked in prose, drama and translation, Rosenstock is primarily known as a poet. He has written or translated over one hundred books.

Rosenstock is a member of Aosdána, and a former chairman of Poetry Ireland. Two of his more recent works are Eachtraí Krishnamurphy (2003) and Krishnamurphy Ambaist (2004). His travel book Ólann mo mhiúil as an nGainséis (2003) provides an insight his beliefs, intellectual life, and philosophy.

His son Tristan Rosenstock is a member of the traditional Irish quintet Téada while his nephew is Mario Rosenstock.

Poetry in Irish

• Susanne sa seomra folctha Clódhanna 1973
• Méaram An Clóchomhar 1981
• Om An Clóchomhar 1983
• Nihil Obstat Coiscéim, 1984
• Migmars Ababúna, 1985
• Rún na gCaisleán Taibhse, 1986
• Oráistí. Rogha dánta agus dánta nua Cló Iar Chonnachta, 1991
• Ní mian léi an fhilíocht níos mó Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1993
• Rogha Rosenstock Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 1994
• Lacertidae 1994
• Syójó Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2001
• Eachtraí Krishnamurphy Coiscéim, 2003
• Forgotten Whispers / Cogair dhearúdta 2003. (Haiku with photography by John Minihan)
• Krishnamurphy Ambaist Coiscéim, 2004
• Hymn to the Earth The Silverstrand Press, 2004. (Poems and photography by Ron Rosenstock)
• Rogha Dánta/ Selected Poems, translated by Paddy Bushe: CIC, 2005

Criticism in Irish

• Ólann mo mhiúil as an nGainséis Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2003 ISBN 1-902420-78-0, 9781902420783

Poetry in English

• Cold Moon: The Erotic Haiku of Gabriel Rosenstock, 1993
• Forgotten Whispers, 2003, with John Minihan. Haiku
• Portrait of the Artist as an Abominable Snowman. Selected Poems, translated from the Irish by Michael Hartnett, and New Poems, translated by Jason Sommer, Forest Books, 1989

Translations

• March hare, 1994. Short stories from the Irish language author Pádraic Breathnach

Books in English

• The Wasp in the Mug: Unforgettable Irish Proverbs Mercier Press, 1993

Textbooks

• Beginner's Irish, 2005