"Poetics Plus" Sets Lineup

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "Poetics Plus," the poetry series presented by the Poetics Program in the Department of English in the University at Buffalo's College of Arts and Sciences, is back this semester with another lineup of notable poets.

All events are free and open to the public.

After opening last month with a reading and book launch by Steve McCaffery, David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters in the Department of English, the series will continue on Feb. 23 with a reading by Miles Champion at 8 p.m. at Rust Belt Books, 202 Allen St., Buffalo. Born in England and currently working in New York City, Champion's books include "Three Bell Zero" (2000), "Facture" (1999), "Compositional Bonbons Placate" (1996) and "Sore Models" (1995).

Matthew Cooperman, a poet and assistant professor of English at Colorado State University, will read from his work at 7:30 p.m. March 8 in the Hallwalls Cinema, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo. Cooperman's most recent book is "Daze" (Salt, 2006). He also is the author of "A Sacrificial Zinc" (2001), which won the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Prize.

On March 19, Joan Retallack, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities at Bard College, will give a reading at 8 p.m. in the Hallwalls Cinema. Retallack is senior fellow for development and planning for Bard's Institute for Writing and Thinking, and director of its Workshop in Language and Thinking. Her books include "The Poethical Wager" (2003), "How to Do Things with Words" (1998) and "Musicage: Cage Muses on Words, Art, Music" (1996).

Award-winning Chinese-American poet Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge will give a reading at 8 p.m. March 26 in Big Orbit Gallery, 30 Essex St., Buffalo. A native of Beijing who grew up in Massachusetts, Berssenbrugge has been a contributing editor of Conjunctions magazine since 1978 and has taught at Brown University and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe. Her books include "The Heat Bird" (Burning Deck), which won an American Book Award; "Empathy" (Station Hill), which won a PEN West Award; and "Four-Year-Old Girl" (Kelsey Street), winner of the Western States Book Award.

Poet and performance artist Cecilia Vicuña will read from her work at 4 p.m. March 27 in the Special Collections Research Room, 420 Capen Hall, North Campus. A native of Chile, Vicuña's books include "Instant" (2002), "Cloud-Net" (2000) and "Precario/Precarious" (1997). She is co-editor, with John Bierhorst, of "UI: Four Mapuche Poets" (1998) and, with Ernesto Grosman, of "Five Hundred Years of Latin American Poetry" (2006).

Poet, playwright and critic Jerome McGann will be the David Gray Textual Scholar-in-Residence at UB April 5 and April 6. McGann will give a talk at 1 p.m. April 5 in 420 Capen Hall, and will lead the first of two seminars at 4 p.m. April 5 in 438 Clemens Hall, North Campus. The second seminar will begin at 2 p.m. April 6, also in 438 Clemens.

John Stewart Bryan Professor of English at the University of Virginia, McGann is the author of "Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Game That Must Be Lost" (Yale University Press, 2000), editor of "Rossetti's Collected Poetry and Prose" (Yale Press, 2002) and co-editor, with Charles L. Sligh, of "Major Poems and Selected Prose: Algernon Charles Swinburne" (2005).

His book "Radiant Textuality: Literature After the World Wide Web" received the Modern Language Association's James Russell Lowell Award in 2002.

A roundtable and readings by several contemporary British poets will take place April 12 in 420 Capen. A roundtable featuring Sam Ladkin and Robin Purves will begin at 2 p.m.; readings by Andrea Brady, Peter Manson and Keston Sutherland will begin at 4 p.m.

"Poetics Plus" will conclude its spring series with a reading by Chinese-American poet Arthur Sze at 4 p.m. April 17 in 420 Capen. Sze, who directs the Creative Writing Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, three Witter Bynner Foundation Poetry Fellowships and two Creative Writing Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Among his many books of poetry are "The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese" (2001), "The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998" (1998) and "Tooth of Time" (1984).

"Poetics Plus" is sponsored, in part, by the James H. McNulty Chair, Department of English (Dennis Tedlock); the David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters (Steve McCaffery); and the Department of English. The series is produced in cooperation with the Poetry and Rare Books collections, the Humanities Institute, the Department of Media Study and the Electronic Poetry Center, all at UB; Talking Leaves Books; Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center; Big Orbit Gallery; Rust Belt Books; Just Buffalo Literary Center; and graduate student in the UB Poetics Program.