When Dana Gioia's provocative essay "Can Poetry Matter?" was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1991, it received more public response than any other piece in the magazine’s history, sparking a firestorm of debate and discussion over the role of the poet in today’s world. His 2013 essay, “The Catholic Writer Today,” ignited a national conversation about the role of Catholicism in American literature.
Gioia is a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and Poet Laureate of California. He has published six full-length collections of verse, most recently Meet Me at the Lighthouse (2023). His collection 99 Poems: New & Selected (2016) won the Poets’ Prize as the best new book of the year. Interrogations at Noon (2001), was awarded the American Book Award.
Gioia is best known as a central figure in the revival of rhyme, meter, and narrative in contemporary poetry. In recent years, he has emerged as a compelling advocate of Christianity’s continuing importance in contemporary culture.
27 окт 2024