Howard Hibbett (July 27th, 1920 - March 13th, 2019), born in Akron, Ohio, was a translator and professor of Japanese literature at Harvard University. Some of the most prominent translations by Hibbett include The Key (1961), Seven Japanese Tales (1963), Diary of a Mad Old Man (1965), and Quicksand (1994), all prominent works by Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. Other significant translations include Harp of Burma (1966) by Michio Takeyama and Beauty and Sadness (1975) by Yasunari Kawabata. Academic works by Hibbett include The Floating World of Japanese Literature (1959), Modern Japanese; A Basic Reader (1965), Contemporary Japanese Literature: an Anthology of Fiction, Film, and other Writing since 1945 (1977), all of which were works or contributions dedicated to a literary analysis of Japanese literature as well as in teaching the Japanese language to English speakers.

Professor Hibbett served as the Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations between the years of 1965 and 1970, as well as in 1972, at Harvard University. Hibbett also served as the Director of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, a Harvard research center focusing on Japan, between 1985 and 1988. Hibbett went on to be awarded the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize by Columbia University, New York, in 2018.