Join Regent College President Jeff Greenman and Regent Board of Governors Chair Roger Laing at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, for an Evening Conversation with renowned poet and author Dana Gioia on “Poetry, Imagination, and Spiritual Formation.” Hosted by Regent College in partnership with the Trinity Forum and Reformed Theological Seminary, this evening will address the power of poetry to shape the moral and spiritual imagination of both individuals and cultures.

We are delighted to present this inaugural Evening Conversation as the first in a three-part series on “Art, Faith, and Formation.” This series will be held over the next year in Washington, DC, to discuss the ways in which the literary, musical, and visual arts speak to spiritual hunger, shape our sense of beauty, truth, and purpose, and explore the implications for caring for and cultivating the arts in reinvigorating a healthy culture.

Join us on Wednesday, September 11th, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, for this not-to-be-missed conversation! Our program will begin with light appetizers and drinks at 6:30 pm, followed by remarks and audience questions.

We hope you will join us for wine, hors d'oeuvres, and conversation at the National Press Club. Please share this event with friends!

Tickets are available for $25 USD, or $15 for Regent students and alumni. To register, visit the Trinity Forum here.

Not a Trinity Forum Society member? Join here!

This event will be live broadcast for friends across the country to participate. Stay tuned for additional details about the live broadcast. If you have any questions about the event, please contact us at mail@ttf.org or 202.944.9881.

We hope to see you on September 11th!

Our Speaker

Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet and former National Endowment for the Arts Chairman. He also served as the California State Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2019. During his tenure, he became the first laureate to visit all 58 counties of California. His statewide tour became the subject of a BBC Radio documentary.

Gioia has published five full-length collections of verse, most notably 99 Poems: New & Selected, Interrogations at Noon, and his book Can Poetry Matter? which is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture. From 2003 to 2009, Gioia served as the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts where he helped create and launch the largest programs in the agency’s history, including Poetry Out Loud, The Big Read, Shakespeare in American Communities, and Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.

His poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Gioia has also written four opera libretti and collaborated with musicians in genres from classical to jazz. He currently teaches at the University of Southern California where he holds the Judge Widney Chair of Poetry and Public Culture.