Robert Dana, GPC 2004-2005
Born in Boston in
1929, Robert Dana served in the South Pacific during World War II. He then
attended Drake University and The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. The
author of eleven collections of poetry, including Starting Out for the Difficult World (Harpercollins, 1987); What I Think I Know: New and Selected Poems (Jensen/Daniels,
1991); Hello, Stranger (Anhinga
Press, 1996); Summer (Anhinga Press, 2000); The Morning of Red
Admirals (Anhinga Press, 2004), and The
Other (Anhinga Press, 2008). His awards include two National Endowment for
the Arts fellowships and The Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York
University. In the 1960s, he revived and edited The North American Review,
and he also operated The Hillside Press. Dana taught for forty years as
Poet-in-Residence at Cornell College and also served as a visiting writer
at universities in Stockholm and Beijing, as well as at several American
colleges and universities. Appointed Poet Laureate for the State of Iowa, he
served in that position from 2004 to 2008. In 2010, Anhinga published
his final collection, New and Selected Poems, 1955-2010 (2010).
Robert Dana died in February, 2010, of pancreatic cancer.
Additional Links:
"An Evening with Robert
Dana." A reading at Cornell College, May 13, 2009.
Pif Magazine: "Mending Art."
Bossy Betty: "Beach Attitudes"
Anhinga Press: "Rapture."
Interview with Dana by Pif Magazine.