BINGHAMTON, NY – Approximately 400 students from 33 schools and 12 school districts will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 22, in the Osterhout Concert Theater of the Anderson Center at Binghamton University for the 36th Annual Poetry and the Children Day. After the opening presentation, students will present their poems at 11 a.m. throughout the Fine Arts Building.

This year’s guest poet is Liz Rosenberg, author of more than 30 award-winning books, including novels, poetry, and more than 20 books for young readers. She is the editor of five prize-winning poetry anthologies and her work has been featured on Reading Rainbow, in The New York Times and in two documentaries about her life and work. She won an IRA-Children's choice award for her picture book, Monster Mama, which is currently under option to be made into a full-length feature movie.

Rosenberg has taught English and Creative Writing at the State University of New York for the past 30 years. She has won the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and she writes a monthly children's book column for the Boston Globe. Rosenberg has visited elementary schools, libraries and high schools all over the United States and as far away as Singapore and London.

The program, which brings students together for a day of poetry readings, was established as a memorial to Robert Pawlikowski. A published poet, creative writing instructor and campus administrative assistant, Pawlikowski drowned in 1975 while on vacation with his family. The event is a tribute to the efforts that Pawlikowski made during his lifetime in nurturing the expressive and intellectual powers of his students as well as those of his own children.