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Poet, Professor Will Lead Organization Dedicated to Strengthening Poetry’s Role in American Culture. |
CHICAGO—The board of the Poetry Foundation has voted unanimously to appoint Robert Polito the next president of the organization. He will begin his tenure on July 8, 2013. Until that time, inaugural president John Barr, who announced his retirement early in 2012, will continue as president and will aid in the transition.
A highly respected poet, critic, and biographer, Polito has served since 1992 as director of Creative Writing at The New School, where he founded the MFA Program in Creative Writing and (with Len and Louise Riggio) the Riggio Honors Program: Writing and Democracy.
Born in Boston in 1951, he earned a doctorate in English and American language and literature from Harvard University.