Dana Gioia - The Joys of Poetry and Prose

Dana Gioia (pronounced JOY-uh) is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet, former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and a California native of Italian and Mexican descent. Gioia has published five full-length collections of poetry, winning the Aiken-Taylor Award for lifetime achievement in American poetry in 2014.  In 2015 Gioia was appointed the State Poet Laureate of California.  His essay Can Poetry Matter? was finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award and is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture.