FORA.tv Speaker - Dana Gioia

Dana Gioia is a poet, critic, and arts leader. He currently serves as the Director of the Harman-Eisner Program in the Arts at The Aspen Institute. He is also the author of numerous books, including Interrogations at Noon (2002), which won the American Book Award in poetry, and Can Poetry Matter? (1992), which was short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Prize. A translator and opera librettist, Gioia has also edited over two dozen literary anthologies.

Gioia served as the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2009 where he helped create the largest programs in the agency’s history, including the Big Read, Shakespeare in American Communities, and Poetry Out Loud. He also led the U.S. cultural delegation to UNESCO.