Dana Gioia collection

Dana Gioia (1950- ) is an American poet and critic. He was born in Los Angeles, California to Michael and Dorothy Gioia. Gioia received a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University in 1973 and a Master of Arts from Harvard University in 1975. After returning to Stanford University and earning a Master's in Business Administration in 1977, Gioia went on to spend nearly fifteen years in the corporate sector. During this time, Gioia also began his career as a poet, publishing his first volume of poetry, Summer, in 1983. Gioia has since published numerous volumes of poetry and criticism, in addition to editing anthologies and contributing essays and introductions to other literary works. In 1991, Gioia's essay, "Can Poetry Matter?" first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. The essay was subsequently published in a collection under the same name, and became a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle in 1992. In 2002, Gioia won the American Book Award for Interrogations at Noon, his third collection of poems. Since February of 2003 Gioia has served as the Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts.