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Reginald Gibbons (born 1947) is an American
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
, fiction writer,
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
, and
literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...
. He is the Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities, Emeritus, at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
. Gibbons has published numerous books, including 11 volumes of poems, translations of poetry from ancient Greek, Spanish, and co-translations from Russian. He has published short stories, essays, reviews and art in journals and magazines, has held Guggenheim Foundation and NEA fellowships in poetry and a research fellowship from the
Center for Hellenic Studies The Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS) is a research institute for classics located in Washington, D.C. at 3100 Whitehaven Street NW. It is affiliated with Harvard University. Nestled in Rock Creek Park behind Embassy Row, the Center for Hellen ...
in Washington D.C. For his novel, ''Sweetbitter'', he won the
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...
; for his book of poems, ''Maybe It Was So'', he won the Carl Sandburg Prize. He has won the Folger Shakespeare Library's O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize, and other honors, among them the inclusion of his work in ''Best American Poetry'' and ''Pushcart Prize'' anthologies. His book '' Creatures of a Day'' was a Finalist for the 2008
National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
for poetry. His other poetry books include ''Sparrow: New and Selected Poems'' (Balcones Prize), ''Last Lake'' and ''Renditions'', his eleventh book of poems. Two books of poems are forthcoming: Three Poems in 2024 and Young Woman With a Cane in 2025. He has also published two collections of very short fiction, ''Five Pears or Peaches'' and ''An Orchard in the Street''. Gibbons was born in Houston, Texas, and first attended public school in Houston before entering the Spring Branch independent school district (at that time, outside Houston; now inside Houston's boundaries). He received an AB in Spanish and Portuguese from Princeton University, and an MA in English and creative writing and a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University. Before moving to Northwestern University to direct ''TriQuarterly Magazine'', he taught Spanish at Rutgers and creative writing at Princeton and Columbia University. At Northwestern, he was the editor of ''
TriQuarterly ''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by an American literary magazine and a series of books. The journal is published twice a year under the aegis of the Northwestern University Department of English and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama ...
'' magazine from 1981 to 1997, and co-founded TriQuarterly Books (after 1997, an imprint of Northwestern University Press). As the editor of ''TriQuarterly'', he edited or co-edited the special issues ''Chicago'' (1984), ''From South Africa: New Writing, Photography and Art'' (1987), ''A Window on Poland'' (1983), ''Prose from Spain'' (1983), '' The Writer in Our World'' (a symposium of writers including
Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott OM (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as ...
, Grace Paley, Robert Stone, C. K. Williams, Gloria Emerson, Carolyn Forche, Michael S. Harper, Mary Lee Settle, Ward Just, and others) (1986), ''Thomas McGrath: Life and the Poem'' (1987), ''Writing and Well-Being'' (1989), ''New Writing from Mexico'' (1992), and others, as well as many general issues of the magazine. As the executor of the literary estate of William Goyen (1915–1983), Gibbons edited four works of Goyen: a posthumous volume of short stories, ''Had I a Hundred Mouths: New & Selected Stories 1947-1983'' (Clarkson Potter, 1985; Persea Books, 1986); Goyen's posthumously published second novel, ''Half a Look of Cain'' (Northwestern University Press, 1998); a 50th-Anniversary restored edition of ''The House of Breath'' (Northwestern University Press, 2000); and a collection of nonfiction prose, ''Goyen: Autobiographical Essays, Notebooks, Evocations, Interviews'' (University of Texas Press / Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Imprint Series, 2007). In 1989, Gibbons was one of a group of co-founders of the Guild Literary Complex (Chicago), a literary presenting organization (as of 2019 he is an emeritus board member). He was also a member of the Content Leadership Team that helped create the American Writers Museum (Chicago), and he remains on the national advisory board of the museum. With colleagues in the Guild Literary Complex, he also founded BrooksDay, an annual public reading in Chicago of the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks. At Northwestern University, he was director of the Center for the Writing Arts; a faculty member of the Department of English (which he chaired in 2002–2005); a faculty member of the Dept. of Classics; a former member of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese; the founder of the part-time MFA in Creative Writing within the School of Professional Studies at Northwestern University; a former director of graduate studies of the full-time Litowitz Graduate Creative Writing Program (MFA+MA); and a member of the Core Faculty of the Program in Comparative Literary Studies.


Career

* Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities, Emeritus
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
* Formerly lecturer in Spanish, Livingston College, Rutgers University, 1975–76; lecturer in creative writing,
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, 1976–1980; lecturer in creative writing,
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
School of General Studies, 1980–81; lecturer then professor of English, Northwestern University, 1981- * Editor of ''
TriQuarterly ''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by an American literary magazine and a series of books. The journal is published twice a year under the aegis of the Northwestern University Department of English and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama ...
'' magazine, 1981–1997 * Core faculty member o
''MFA Program for Writers''
Warren Wilson College Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a required course of study, work an on-campus j ...
(Asheville, North Carolina), 1989–2011 * Co-founder and member of the board of directors, Guild Complex, 1989–2019 * Member, National Advisory Council and Content Leadership Team, American Writers Museum, 2012–


Poetry

* ''Roofs Voices Roads'' (Quarterly Review of Literature, 1979). * ''The Ruined Motel'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1981). * ''Saints'' (Persea Books, 1986). * ''Maybe It Was So'' (
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 1991). . * ''Sparrow: New and Selected Poems'' (
LSU Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...
, 1997). . * ''Homage to Longshot O'Leary: Poems'' ( Holy Cow! Press, 1999).
''It's Time: Poems''
(
LSU Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...
, 2002) .
''Creatures of a Day: Poems''
(
LSU Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...
, 2008) . * ''Desde una barca de papel (Poemas 1981-2008)'' (Littera Libros (Villanueva de la Serena, SPAIN), 2009, bilingual edition, English and Spanish).
''Slow Trains Overhead: Chicago Poems and Stories''
(
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 2010) . * ''L'abitino blue'' (Gattomerlino (Rome, ITALY, 2012, bilingual edition, English and Italian).
''Last Lake''
(
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 2016 . * ''Renditions'' ( Four Way Books, 2021).


Fiction


''Sweetbitter: A Novel''
a fourth reprint in paperback in 2023 by JackLeg Press (after previous editions by Broken Moon Press, Penguin Books, LSU University Press). * ''Five Pears or Peaches''. (Broken Moon Press, 1991). * ''An Orchard in the Street''. (BOA Editions, Ltd, 2017).


Other books

''(Incomplete - to be updated)''

(
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
, 2008.) Translated and Introduced by Reginald Gibbons.
''How Poems Think''
(
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 2015).
''Sophocles, Antigone''
(
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2007). Translated by Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal.
''Goyen: Autobiographical Essays, Notesbooks, Evocations, Interviews, by William Goyen''
(
University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is the university press of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly and trade books in several areas, including Latin American studies, Caribbean, Caribbea ...
, 2007.
''The Complete Sophocles, Volume I: The Theban Plays''
(
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2011.) ''Antigone'' translated by Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal.
''The Complete Euripides, Volume IV: Bacchae and Other Plays''
(
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2009.) ''Bacchae'' translated by Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal. * New Writing from Mexico, edited by Reginald Gibbons. TriQuarterly Books, 1992. * Thomas McGrath: Life and the Poem, edited by Reginald Gibbons and Terrence Des Press. (
University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...
, 1992.


References


Reginald Gibbons Northwestern University faculty page


External links


Reginald Gibbons
on The Writer's Almanac
Reginald Gibbons
at the
Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...

The Guild ComplexReginald Gibbons web site and poetry blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Reginald 1947 births Living people 21st-century American novelists Stanford University alumni Northwestern University faculty 21st-century American poets American male novelists American male poets 20th-century American poets Translators of Ancient Greek texts 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois