CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS TO READ AT UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Dana Gioia, the new Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, is an internationally acclaimed poet, critic, and educator. He will read from his work at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, in room 102 of Kimpel Hall on the University of Arkansas campus.

Gioia is best known for his 1991 book "Can Poetry Matter?" about the role of poetry in contemporary culture. His collection of poems, "Interrogations at Noon," one of three full-length books of poetry, won the 2002 American Book Award. His anthology, co-edited with X.J. Kennedy, called "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama," is a best-selling college literature textbook.

Gioia is a long-time commentator on American culture and literature for BBC Radio. His poems, translations, essays and reviews have appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate and The Hudson Review.

Trained in music, Gioia has been the classical music critic for San Francisco Magazine for the past six years. His work has been set to music by many composers in genres from classical to rock, including a full-length dance theater piece, "Counting the Children." His libretto for "Nosferatu," an opera composed by Alva Henderson, was published by Graywolf in 2001.

Gioia is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, German and Romanian. He has published a translation of Italian Nobel Prize-winning poet Eugenio Montale's "Mottetti" (1990) as well as two large anthologies of Italian poetry. His translation of Seneca's "The Madness of Hercules" (1995) was performed by Verse Theater Manhattan.

In 2001, Gioia founded "Teaching Poetry," a conference dedicated to improving high school teaching of poetry. Also, he is the founder and co-director of the West Chester University summer conference of Form and Narrative, the nation's largest annual all-poetry writing conference.

His professional credits include teaching as a visiting writer at Johns Hopkins University, Sarah Lawrence College and Wesleyan University. He currently serves as vice president of the Poetry Society of America and has served on the boards of numerous arts organizations.

In addition to his reading, Gioia will meet individually with current students studying poetry at the university. Generously funded by the Walton Foundation, Gioia’s reading is free and open to the public.