Binghamton University to host 40th annual Poetry and the Children Day

BINGHAMTON, NY – More than 500 students from 16 school districts will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 24, in the Osterhout Concert Theater of the Anderson Center at Binghamton University for the 40th annual Poetry and the Children Day. After an opening presentation, students will present their poems at 11 a.m. throughout the Fine Arts Building.

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 was vacationing with his family in 1975 and perished while rescuing his young daughters who were swept into a swift current during a morning swim. 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.

This year’s guest poet, Barry Wittenstein, attended Binghamton University’s Harpur College and went on to earn his BA in English from San Francisco State University. Wittenstein, a former student of Pawlikowski, has been a taxi driver, songwriter, and has worked at CBS records and CBS News, as web editor and writer for Major League Baseball, and as a New York City substitute teacher.

He is also an author of children’s books. His latest book, Waiting for Pumpsie, in which he gives credit to Pawlikowski for inspiring him to write, illustrates how, in 1959, the Boston Red Sox were the last team in the Major Leagues to integrate. He has signed on for two more publications: a picture book about the inventor of the Band-Aid (2018), and another picture book about Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 2019). He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Anne, and his son, Sam.

For more information, contact Lori Fuller at 607-777-6293, or email poetry@binghamton.edu.