Monday, April 30, 2012

A Special Evening Celebrating the Launch of The Essential Robert Gibbs

The UNB Reading Series Presents: A Special Evening Celebrating the Launch of The Essential Robert Gibbs, Monday, April 30th at 8 pm in the Alumni Memorial Lounge.

To celebrate the release of The Essential Robert Gibbs, selected by Brian Bartlett (The Porcupine’s Quill 2012) writers, including Buck Richards, Shari Andrews, David Adams Richards, Nancy Bauer, Travis Lane, Ted Colson, Brian Bartlett, Michael Pacey, Ian LaTourneau, Robert Hawkes, Lynn Davies, Ross Leckie, Gerard Beirne, Sue Sinclair, and Robert Gibbs, will gather in the Alumni Memorial Lounge on the UNB Fredericton campus to read selections from Robert Gibbs’ poetry.

Born in Saint John, Robert Gibbs studied at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton and at Cambridge University, where he was an IODE Scholar from 1952-54. Gibbs returned to New Brunswick to teach and submitted poems to The Fiddlehead journal where he became one of the most frequent contributors. In 1963 Gibbs began teaching at the University of New Brunswick while working on a Doctorate. However, it was not until 1968 that Gibbs published his first chapbook, The Road from Here. Gibbs’ Scottish heritage, Anglican and Baptist family traditions, and upbringing in New Brunswick are all in evidence in the imaginative landscape of his poetry. Gibbs published regularly over the following decades with Fiddlehead Poetry Books, Goose Lane Editions, and Oberon Press, among others. The Essential Robert Gibbs draws poems from throughout his career and is a testament to the poetic contribution that Gibbs has made.

    The reading is presented by the UNB English Department, the Canada Council for the Arts, the UNB Fredericton Bookstore, and The Fiddlehead.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.