Dana Gioia
 Michael Dana Gioia (born December 24 1950) is an American poet and writer who also served as the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Born in Hawthorne California to working class parents of Italian and Mexican descent Gioia attended Harvard and Stanford Universities. For fifteen years he worked for General Foods Corporation while writing at night and on the weekends. His 1991 Atlantic essay Can Poetry Matter? generated international attention.