Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, will read from his poetry at 4 p.m. April 25 in Hoover Library’s Richwine Room. The event is sponsored by the Department of English.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For information, call 410-857-2294.

Gioia is an acclaimed poet, critic, businessman and educator. He won the American Book Award in 2002 for “Interrogations at Noon,” and his poems, translations, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Gioia is also a commentator on American culture and literature for BBC Radio.

Gioia is internationally recognized for his role in reviving rhyme, meter, and narrative in contemporary poetry. Although widely noted for his use of traditional forms, Gioia also writes in free verse – insisting that a poet should be able to use whatever style the work suggests.

The first person in his family to attend college, Gioia earned a B.A. and M.B.A. from Stanford and an M.A. in comparative literature from Harvard. For 15 years he pursued a career in business, becoming a vice president of General Foods before leaving to become a full-time writer in 1992.

Appearing in The Atlantic Monthly in 1991, Gioia’s essay “Can Poetry Matter?” sparked an international debate on the role of poetry in contemporary intellectual life. Debated and discussed in newspapers and magazines and on radio and television here and abroad, “Can Poetry Matter?” stands as one of the most influential literary essays of the past quarter century.