Beginner’s pluck: Debut poetry collection of Gustav Parker Hibbett
Gustav Parker Hibbett: 'We gestated at Alabama but found a home in the poetry scene in Dublin.'
From aged nine, Parker spent their childhood in New Mexico. Educated through financial aid at a private school they felt different.
“It was complicated,” they say.
They excelled at maths, and also at the high jump.
“I had an organic sense of it. I felt a connection, as if my body knew what to do. It was wonderful for pushing the bounds of expectations in a playful way.” Losing that when I went to college hurt me, so when I found poetry, I really held on very tight.
They discovered it at Stanford University, through one-to-one sessions with the poet, Richie Hofmann.
“He made me a poet. I gestated at Alabama but found a home in the poetry scene in Dublin. I feel part of the literary community here.” Parker is currently taking a PhD at Trinity College, Dublin. This involves some teaching which they love.
“I’d love to teach a black studies class. There’s so much I enjoy discussing.”
1996/ California, USA.
Albuquerque Academy, New Mexico; Stanford University, English; University of Alabama, MA in Fine Arts.
“I did 2 years but it wasn’t a great fit, so I dropped out, and applied to Trinity Dublin for a PhD. I arrived in 2021.”
Dublin.
Partner Abbie. “My nuclear family all live in the states.”
PhD student, which includes teaching.
“I’d love to have taken high jump further, or have become a mathematician.”
Christina Sharpe; Dionne Brand. Morgan Parker. Hanif Abdurraqib; Nicole Sealey; Anne Carson.
: “After my degree, my focus will be creative non-fiction essay.”
Top tip: "Stop looking to other people for permission."
@gustavparker
