Robert Gibbs

1930-

Robert (“Bob”) John Gibbs (poet, novelist, short story writer, professor, editor, and critic) was born in Saint John, New Brunswick on 3 February 1930. After graduating from Saint John High School in 1947, he immediately began his BA at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Fredericton. He joined the Bliss Carman Society and his poetry started appearing The Fiddlehead in 1949. After completing his degree in 1951, Gibbs began a Master’s program, but left for England after his first year. There, he attended Cambridge University on an IODE scholarship and graduated with another BA in 1954. Gibbs then returned to New Brunswick and began teaching at rural schools. After working for nine years as a teacher and an administrator in small communities and in Saint John, he returned to UNB to finish his MA. He continued his academic career lecturing in the Department of English and took classes in the evenings toward a PhD that he completed in 1970. His dissertation was titled “Aspects of Irony in the Poetry of E.J. Pratt.” In his more than twenty-five years of teaching at UNB, Gibbs taught general undergraduate and Canadian literature courses and was the director of UNB’s creative writing graduate program. He served as both editor and poetry editor of The Fiddlehead. Upon his retirement from UNB in 1989, he was named Professor Emeritus. Gibbs’ poetic works were first showcased in Fred Cogswell’s Five New Brunswick Poets (1962). An active member of the Tuesday night “Icehouse Gang,” he would publish five books of poetry between 1968 and 1978: The Road from Here (1968), Earth Charms Heard So Early (1970), A Dog in a Dream (1971), A Kind of Wakefulness (1973), and All This Night Long (1978). A selection of his verse titled A Space to Play In (1980) was published by the League of Canadian Poets, and previously printed poems were re-published along with new material in The Tongue Still Dances: Poems New and Selected (1985). Other collections include Earth Aches (1991) and Driving to Our Edge (2003). His first collection of short fiction was I’ve Always Felt Sorry for Decimals (1978). He published Angels Watch Do Keep in 1997, a fantasy novel entitled A Mouth Organ for Angels in 1984, and Kindly Light in 2007. Gibb’s body of work was recognized in 1998 with New Brunswick’s Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in English-Language Literary Arts. He has been involved with the Maritime Writers’ Workshop since its inception and continues to live and write in Fredericton.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton, Saint John

Archival Material

• Robert J. Gibbs fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  MG L 7 and accession 2020.021 (unprocessed)

  Date Range of Material

  1944-2002

  Extent

  1.19 metres textual records
  27 photographs ; b&w and col. ; 20 x 23.5 cm or smaller
  6 drawings

  Scope and Content Note

  This fonds documents the literary career of Robert J. Gibbs. Manuscript and typed copies of some of Gibbs’ poems and short stories, and his academic articles and essays, are found in this fonds. Also included is personal correspondence from other writers and poets such as Dorothy Livesay, Elizabeth Brewster, Fred Cogswell, Alden Nowlan, and Alistair MacLeod; and professional correspondence with publishing companies such as Oberon Press, writers, and educators. Correspondence with researchers, archivists, and publishers reflect Gibbs’ role as Alden Nowlan’s literary executor. The fonds also includes personal correspondence to family and friends during Gibbs’ studies in England, (1952-1954), and photographs and journal notes from a trip he took with Ed Yeoman's family of Vancouver in 1970.  A new accrual of 44 boxes was acquired in 2020 (a file listing is available).