SunTrust Humanities Lecture Series, 2001-2002

POETRY, SPIRITUALITY, AND PUBLIC LIFE
Dana Gioia

Thursday, November 29, 2001
7:30 PM
Hunter Museum of American Art

You are cordially invited to attend a lecture by the acclaimed American poet
Dana Gioia at the auditorium of the Hunter Museum of American Art on
November 29th at 7:30 PM. The event will be followed by a reception and book
signing.

Dana Gioia has emerged in recent years not only as one of the most eminent
poets of his generation, but as a powerful spokesman for the recovery of
poetry as a "public" art. He came to this vocation by a most unusual path,
spending fifteen years as a top executive at Kraft General Foods, but then
retiring from the business world in 1992 to dedicate himself to his literary
career.

His poems, essays, and translations have been published in numerous
magazines, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Book
Review, The Nation, and The Hudson Review. His first book of poems, Daily
Horoscope, was discussed in publications as diverse as Newsweek and Forbes.
His second collection was chosen by London's Poetry Society Book Club as
their main selection, a rare honor for an American poet. His essay "Can
Poetry Matter?" later published as a book by thahas sparked debates across
the literary world, and was the subject of special programming on the BBC
and National Public Radio. In addition to his poetry and criticism, Gioia is
a translator and anthologist of Italian poetry, including the Mottetti of
Eugenio Montale. He has taught as a visiting writer at Colorado College,
Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, Mercer, and Wesleyan University. This year he
has published a libretto for the opera Nosferatu, and a third collection of
poetry, entitled Interrogations at Noon.

The lecture is cosponsored by the UTC's SunTrust Chair of Excellence in
Humanities and by the Arts & Education Council of Chattanooga, and is funded
in part by a grant from Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga. It is free and
open to the public. The Hunter Museum of American Art is located at 20 Bluff
View in Chattanooga. For more information, call 423-267-1218.