BINGHAMTON, NY – Binghamton University will host Crossroads: The Fourth Annual Binghamton International Poetry Festival from 3-7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Binghamton University Downtown Center, 67 Washington St., Binghamton. This event is free and open to the public.

The festival will feature multicultural workshops and presentations from writers and poets from Italy, Latin America, Persia, France and the United States, all of whom will speak in their native languages and English.

"The festival aims to expose students, the academic community and the city of Binghamton to a concrete cultural experience in which the general notion of multiculturalism takes the shape of an actual multilingual event," said Mario Moroni, professor of Italian at Binghamton University and the event’s organizer. "Our purpose in the fourth edition of the festival is to expand collaboration and participation with foreign students at Binghamton University and of local poetry groups and workshops in the city of Binghamton."

The festival’s programming will include six to eight poets, representing various local groups and workshops, reading their poems before a two-judge panel, which will award prizes for the "best" work.

Poets will read pieces in their native languages along with English translations. Featured poets include: Mahmood Karim-Hakaki from Persia; Paul Sohar from Hungary; Mario Moroni from Italy; American poets Peter Fulton and Mike Foldes, among others; and Italian singer-songwriter Barbara Eramo.

The festival is sponsored by the Harpur College Dean’s Office and the Department of Romance Languages with funding provided, in part, by the Broome County Arts Council Grant, Office of the Vice President for Research at Binghamton University and the Binghamton Poetry Project.

For more information, e-mail mmoroni@binghamton.edu.