Dana Gioia is one of those rare people who really deserve to be called a “national treasure.” Poet, critic, intellectual, businessman, arts activist, tireless supporter of writers in need of support (both living and dead)—he has nurtured the life of the imagination as an urgent public good in myriad ways. First and foremost, of course, he is a poet—a champion of the social and personal virtues gained by those who work to master beautiful forms. Though he has long been known in poetry circles as a promoter of “New Formalism” and “New Narrative”, Gioia has never reduced his poetics to a rigid ideological position. His seminal essay, “Does Poetry Matter?,” first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1991, shook up the literary establishment, challenging the inbred world of academic writing programs to once again connect to a broader public and return poetry to the deeper, perennial questions. In 2003 he was appointed Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, which he led with distinction until 2010, creating such popular programs as The Big Read, Shakespeare in American Communities, Jazz Masters, and Operation Homecoming: Writing the War Experience. Business Week published an article about him entitled “The Man Who Saved the NEA.” Gioia’s association with Image began early in our history, and for many years he served on our editorial advisory board. He’s also been a guest lecturer for the Seattle Pacific University MFA in Creative Writing program. And now he has just been appointed as the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California. With all these achievements under his belt, you’d think that Gioia would be ready to slow down. Somehow, we doubt that will happen. And we’re among the many grateful for his generous, creative spirit.

Some of Gioia’s work is featured in Image issue 13 and issue 73. Read an interview with Gioia here.

 Biography

Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet and critic. He is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, including Interrogations at Noon (2001), which won the American Book Award, and three collections of criticism, most notably Can Poetry Matter? (1992), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. A best-selling literary anthologist, Gioia has edited or co-edited over two dozen collections of poetry, fiction, and drama. He has also written two opera libretti and has collaborated with composers in genres ranging from classical to jazz and rock. For six years (2003-2009) he served as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts where he gained strong bipartisan support for the previously imperiled agency and helped launch the largest literary programs in federal history, including The Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, and Shakespeare in American Communities. He was twice unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. For two years he directed the arts and culture programs for the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C. and Colorado. He is currently the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California.

Current Projects
June 2011

Having spent the last 8 years in Washington, D.C. (most of it serving as the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts), I am now in the process of moving back into my real life as a writer. I shall return to my native California this summer, and in the fall I’ll start teaching at the University of Southern California, where I have just accepted a newly created chair in Poetry and Public Culture. I’ll teach two courses the first year–a survey of modern American poetry and a course on “Words and Music” for USC’s Thorton School of Music. It seems a bit odd to start an academic career at sixty, especially since I have until now preferred the ups and downs of the freelance life, but I thought teaching at USC would be a good way to re-anchor myself to California cultural life and my old hometown of Los Angeles. I’ll only teach in the fall semesters, so I’ll still mostly be at my desk in Sonoma County pretending to work. Next year I shall publish a new book of poems, my first in a decade, entitled Pity the Beautiful. I hope it is a sign of things to come.