A native Californian of Italian and Mexican descent, Dana Gioia (pronounced JOY-uh) is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. Dana is the author of four full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His nonfiction book, Can Poetry Matter?, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture. Dana’s work has appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Hudson Review, and he has written two opera libretti. A marketing executive for many years before he became a full-time writer, Dana served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from January 2003 until January 2009. In that role, he significantly impacted the role of the arts in America, launching such projects as Poetry Out Loud and The Big Read, and undertaking massive surveys on arts awareness and participation in American society. Dana is currently director of the Harman-Eisner Program in the Arts at the Aspen Institute. Learn more about him here.