Former NEA chair Dana Gioia named California poet laureate

NEW YORK (AP) — Dana Gioia, the poet and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has been named California Poet Laureate.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced Friday that Gioia will succeed Juan Felipe Herrera, who served from 2012 to 2014 and is now U.S. Poet Laureate.

Gioia, who turns 65 later this month, headed the NEA from 2003 to 2009. He has long advocated making poetry more accessible to the general public and teaching it in schools. His initiatives at the NEA included the student contest Poetry Out Loud.