Wednesdays at 4 PLUS, the bi-annual literary series sponsored by the Poetics Program in the Department of English, this spring will include a number of renowned authors, poets and playwrights from around the world. Major events will include a British Poetry Festival featuring poet and painter Allen Fisher, a Canadian Poetry Festival with performances by today's most innovative Canadian poets, and a Black Ice Festival of "avant-pop" and postmodern fiction.

The series also will feature visits from renowned American authors Samuel Delany and Michael McClure.

"Wednesdays at 4 Plus" also is sponsored by the James H. McNulty Chair (Dennis Tedlock), the Samuel P. Capen Chair of Poetry and the Humanities (Robert Creeley), and the David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters (Charles Bernstein), Department of English; the Rare Books Collection curator (Robert Bertholf), and the Melodia E. Jones Chair in French (Raymond Federman), Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.

The series is produced with the cooperation of the Center for the Arts and the Department of Media Study and Talking Leaves bookstore. For more information, call 645-3810. Events are on the North Campus, unless otherwise indicated.

The schedule of events:

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4 p.m., Center for the Arts Screening Room. Poetry reading by John Yau, writer-in-residence at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Thursday, Feb. 5, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Lecture by John Yau: "Johns and Warhol: Assimilation and Segregation." Author and curator, Yau has published more than 20 books of poetry, criticism and fiction.

- The Canadian Invasion Poetry Festival

Saturday, Feb. 7, 1:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., Cornershop Gallery, 82 Lafayette Ave., Buffalo. Performances of Canadian poets Christian Bok, Lise Sowne, Beth Learn, Dan Farrell, Peter Jaeger and Darren Wershler-Henry.

- British Poetry Festival (III)

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 4 p.m., Center for the Arts Screening Room. Poetry reading by Allen Fisher.

Thursday, Feb. 19, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Lecture by Allen Fisher: "Recurrence and the Grand Theme in the Art of R.B. Kitaj." Fisher, a poet, painter, publisher, editor and art historian, has been enormously influential on the younger generation of UK poets.

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 4 p.m., Center for the Arts Screening Room. Poetry reading by Rod Smith and Heather Fuller. Smith, author of "In Memory of My Theories," "The Boy Poems" and "Protective Immediacy," edits Ariel, a journal of contemporary poetry and poetics. Fuller, author of "Perhaps This Is A Rescue Fantasy," (Edge, 1997), is the literary editor of the Washington Review.

Thursday, Feb. 26, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Lecture by Loss Pequeño Glazier, "The Poetics of the Web." Glazier is the director and founder of the Electronic Poetry Center at UB and webmaster of the University Libraries.

- Black Ice Festival of Fiction

Friday, Feb. 27, 3 p.m., Center for the Arts, and 7-9 p.m., Talking Leaves Bookstore.

Saturday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m., Hallwalls, 2495 Main St., Buffalo. A festival of avant-pop, postmodern and exciting fiction featuring prose readings by the following writers:

Mark Amerika, a hypertext guru, is author of the novels "The Kafka Chronicles" and "Sexual Blood," published by FC2/Black Ice. He is a creative writing fellow and lecturer on net publishing and hypertext at Brown University.

Jeffrey Deshell, experimental fiction writer, holds a doctorate in English from UB and teaches at Allegheny College. He wrote the controversial novel, "S & M," (FC2/Black Ice, 1997).

Elisabeth Sheffield received her doctorate in English from UB and teaches at Allegheny College. She is an established avant-garde short-story writer and critic.

Edmund Cardoni, a doctoral candidate at UB, is the director of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center and the editor of Blatant Artifice.

Alan Bigelow, UB professor of English for the past 12 years, is completing a novel. He has given public readings and served as a creative writing fellow for Erie County and as a grant recipient for the writers-in-education program through Just Buffalo Literary Center.

Also starring in the festival are aspiring novelists, Ted Pelton and Nicolette DeCsipkay, alumni of UB's English department and the University of Colorado at Boulder Creative Writing Program.

The event, hosted by Raymond Federman, is co-sponsored by Hallwalls, the Department of English, the Poetics Program, the Gray Chair of Poetry and Talking Leaves bookstore.

Wednesday, March 18, 4 p.m., Center for the Arts Screening Room. Poetry reading by Michael McClure, an award-winning poet and playwright, who is a professor at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

Thursday, March 19, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Talk by McClure: "Scratching the Beat Surface."

Wednesday, April 1, 4 p.m., Center for the Arts Screening Room. Prose reading by Samuel R. Delany.

Thursday, April 2, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Talk by Samuel R. Delany: "Longer Views." Author of more than 30 novels, Delany is credited with the invention of a new style that exceeds the conventions of science fiction.

Wednesday, April 8, 4 p.m., Center for the Arts Screening Room. McNulty Chair Residency: Poetry reading by Harryette Mullen.

Thursday, April 9, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Talk by Harryette Mullen: "Black Chant: Expanding the Repertoire of Black Poetry." Her recent book has established her as one of the most innovative voices in contemporary poetry. She teaches creative writing at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Thursday, April 23, 12:30 p.m., 438 Clemens Hall. Lecture/discussion on Mina Loy by Carolyn Burke, art writer, essayist and translator of feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray.

Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m., Katharine Cornell Theatre, Ellicott Complex, North Campus. "Man of Rabinal: A Mayan Dance -- Drama of Sacrifice. "This play concerns events that took place in an ancient Mayan kingdom in Guatemala. The production is being translated and produced by Dennis Tedlock and directed by Cuban artist-in-residence Leandro Soto.