Confidence & the Magnitude of Failure with Ross J. Farrar – May 17, 2026
In Sir Sidney Philips Defense of Posey, he famously said, “Poetry is to teach and delight.” The first half of Ross’ lecture will be about his greatest hurtle of becoming a poet (hopefully there will be humor in delight). And the second half will be focused on a teaching element. A concept called the magnitude of failure, which describes the power of magnification, and the failure of vagueness, along with a few other bits of info he believes the listener will find appealing and, of course, a poem read aloud.
About Ross J. Farrar
Ross John Farrar was born in San Francisco and spent much of his life playing music in the band Ceremony. He holds a BA at University of California, Berkeley, followed and an MFA in Poetry at Syracuse University. His work can be found in RHINO Poetry, The Heartworm Reader, The Chaffey Review, Riprap Journal, and Canary. His published works include: Society Verse (Bridge9 Press, 2010). The L-Shaped Man Poems (Matador, 2015). Ross Sings Cheree & the Animated Dark (Deep Vellum, 2021). Planet Ross (Deep Vellum, 2023).
Schedule
$5 for members, $10 for guests, free tickets available*
Community
1:00 Doors open
1:30 Welcome and networking with members & guests
Program
2:00 p.m. Club Announcements
2:30 p.m. Special Programming
3:00 p.m. Featured Speaker: Ross J. Farrar
4:00 p.m. Author Support Group more info here.
See meetings for more info.
Discover more from The Berkeley Branch of the California Writers Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.