Gustav Parker Hibbett
Gustav Parker Hibbett | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 3, 1996 |
| Education | Stanford University (BA) Corpus Christi College, Oxford Trinity College, Dublin (PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, essayist |
| Notable work | High Jump as Icarus Story (2024) |
| Awards | John Pollard Prize T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) |
| Website | gustavparkerhibbett.com |
Gustav Parker Hibbett is an American poet and essayist. Their debut poetry collection, High Jump as Icarus Story was published by Banshee Press in 2024.[1] The collection was shortlisted for the 2024 T. S. Eliot Prize,[2] and won the 2025 John Pollard Prize[3] as well as the Southword Debut Poetry Collection Award.[4] Their poem “Quickly and Quietly” was highly commended for the 2024 Forward Prize.[5]
Early life and education
[edit]Hibbett was born in California and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They attended Albuquerque Academy where they excelled in high jump.[6] Hibbett earned a BA in English from Stanford University.[7] During their undergraduate studies they spent one year at the University of Oxford.[8]
Hibbett subsequently attended the University of Alabama, in pursuit of an MFA in Creative Writing. Feeling dissatisfied with the program, they left after two years without taking their degree. They are currently a PhD candidate in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin.[9]
Hibbett is biracial, born to a white mother and Black father.
Personal Life
[edit]Hibbett identifies as non-binary. They currently live in Dublin, Ireland with their partner, Abbie.[10]
Writing
[edit]Hibbett’s writing has appeared in The London Magazine, Guernica, and Poetry Ireland Review, as well as in anthologies, including Romance Options: Love Poems for Today (Dedalus Press, 2022) and fourteen poems: queer poetry anthology (fourteen poems, 2023).[11] They were a 2023 “Featured Emerging Poet” in 32 Poems[12] and a 2024 finalist for The Adroit Journal’s Gregory Djanikian Scholarship in Poetry.[13] As of 2025 they are a writer-in-residence at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.[14]
High Jump as Icarus Story
[edit]Hibbett’s debut collection High Jump as Icarus Story was published by Banshee Press in 2024, edited by Irish poet Jessica Traynor.[15] In a review for The Poetry Society, Orla Davey observed
Hibbett’s debut collection charts the heights and depths of identity formation in contemporary America through a poetic diaspora of the mythic and modern. Our athletic speaker also embodies the mythological Icarus, who plunged into the sea after daring to fly too close to the sun. Yet in the face of failure and oppression, our high-jumper continually rises again, forging a blazing existence that redefines masculinity, race, and sexuality. Ambitious in form and triumphant in execution, this collection reminds us that failing and falling are also opportunities for resurrection and redemption.[16]
American poet Richie Hofmann praised the collection, noting “High Jump as Icarus Story is a radiant book of flight and triumph, equally at home in myth and in our dilapidated world. Coming of age, coming into desire, forging a self in life and on the page – these are the poem’s transformations. ‘If paradigms don’t fit,’ Gustav Parker Hibbett writes, ‘it’s okay to customize them.’ Their debut collection is persuasive, original, and glorious.”[1]
English poet Seán Hewitt offered similar praise, writing "Stylish, tender, playful and rigorous all at once, in this collection Gustav Parker Hibbett proves themselves to be one of our most compelling new voices.”[1]
Awards and recognition
[edit]| Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | "Endurance" | Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize | Runner-up | [17][18] |
| 2024 | "Quickly and Quietly" | Forward Prizes for Poetry | Longlisted | [5] |
| High Jump as Icarus Story | T. S. Eliot Prize | Shortlisted | [19] | |
| 2025 | John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize | Won | [20] | |
| Farmgate Café National Poetry Award | Shortlisted | [21] | ||
| Southword Debut Poetry Collection Award | Won | [4] |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Hibbett, Gustav Parker. High Jump as Icarus Story. Dublin: Banshee Press, 2024. https://bansheepress.org/shop/p/high-jump-as-icarus-story-by-gustav-parker-hibbett
- ^ King, Aoife. “Gustav Parker Hibbett Shortlisted for T.S. Eliot Prize.” Trinity College Dublin, November 19, 2024. https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/news/2024/gustav-parker-hibbett-ts-eliot-prize/.
- ^ Doyle, Martin. “Gustav Parker Hibbett Wins John Pollard Prize.” The Irish Times, May 8, 2025. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2025/05/08/gustav-parker-hibbett-wins-john-pollard-prize/.
- ^ a b Munster Literature Centre. “Victoria Kennefick Wins Farmgate Café National Poetry Award.” Munster Literature Centre, May 9, 2025. https://munsterlit.ie/victoria-kennefick-wins-farmgate-cafe-national-poetry-award/.
- ^ a b Carlson, Seán. “Home and/or Home: Seán Carlson Interviews Erin Fornoff and Gustav Parker Hibbett.” The Common, February 10, 2025. https://www.thecommononline.org/home-and-or-home-interview/.
- ^ "First Fortnight workshops, celebrating Paul Durcan and the best of luck to poet Gustav Parker Hibbett". Irish Independent. 2025-01-10. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ^ Albuquerque Academy. “Gustav Parker Hibbett ’14 Wins John Pollard Prize.” Albuquerque Academy, May 9, 2025. https://www.aa.edu/2025/05/09/gustav-parker-hibbett-14-wins-john-pollard-prize/.
- ^ Browne, Sarah. “In Conversation With: Gustav Parker Hibbett.” The University Times, April 16, 2024. https://universitytimes.ie/2024/04/in-conversation-with-gustav-parker-hibbett/.
- ^ Leonard, Sue. “Beginner’s Pluck: Debut Poetry Collection of Gustav Parker Hibbett.” Irish Examiner, September 21, 2024. https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41477704.html.
- ^ Leonard, Sue (2024-09-21). "Beginner's pluck: Debut poetry collection of Gustav Parker Hibbett". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ^ Hibbett, Gustav Parker. Gustav Parker Hibbett. Accessed May 15, 2025. https://www.gustavparkerhibbett.com/.
- ^ Nordgren, Sarah Rose. “Emerging Poet Feature: Gustav Parker Hibbett.” 32 Poems Magazine. Accessed May 15, 2025. https://32poems.com/prose/emerging-poet-feature-gustav-hibbett/.
- ^ The Adroit Journal. “The Gregory Djanikian Scholars Program.” The Adroit Journal. Accessed May 15, 2025. https://theadroitjournal.org/djanikian-scholars/.
- ^ Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. “Gustav Parker Hibbett.” Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. Accessed May 15, 2025. https://www.templebargallery.com/learn-engage/commissioned-writer/gustav-parker-hibbet.
- ^ Cameron, Jamie. “Interview | Gustav Parker Hibbett: ‘I Grew Up with Other People Being the Authority in Defining My Identity.’” The London Magazine, January 10, 2025. https://thelondonmagazine.org/interview-gustav-parker-hibbett-i-grew-up-with-other-people-being-the-authority-in-defining-my-identity/.
- ^ Davey, Orla. “Young Critic Orla Davey Reviews Gustav Parker Hibbett’s High Jump as Icarus Story.” YouTube, uploaded by The Poetry Society, December 15, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UejbLct8ddE.
- ^ Gustav Parker Hibbett, “Oxalis Triangularis,” The Adroit Journal, Issue Forty, accessed May 17, 2025, https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-forty-gustav-parker-hibbett/
- ^ Hibbett, Gustav Parker. "Endurance," The Adroit Journal, accessed May 17, 2025, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27152999.
- ^ Creamer, Ella. “TS Eliot Prize for Poetry Shortlist Contains ‘a Strong Strain of Elegy.’” The Guardian, October 1, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/01/ts-eliot-poetry-prize-shortlist.
- ^ Tyrrell, Fiona. “Gustav Parker Hibbett Wins 2025 Pollard International Poetry Prize.” Trinity College Dublin News & Events, May 8, 2025. https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2025/gustav-parker-hibbett-wins-2025-pollard-international-poetry-prize/.
- ^ Munster Literature Centre. “Farmgate Café National Poetry Award Shortlist.” Munster Literature Centre, April 22, 2025. https://munsterlit.ie/farmgate-cafe-national-poetry-award-shortlist-3/.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
