Literary Journal 'BLOOMS' in Weho After Move From NYC

New York City is the place for serious art and culture. Southern California is good for sun, surf and superficiality. Or so the myths and stereotypes have it.

But Charles Flowers knew it did not have to be that way. When the writer and editor left NYC a few years ago for a new start in Los Angeles, he did not leave his thriving literary life behind – he brought it with him.

At the time, Flowers was the executive director of the Lambda Literary Foundation, widely considered the country’s foremost organization supporting and fostering recognition for LGBT writers. In addition to organizing or participating in myriad literary events across the country, the LLF honors LGBT writers with its annual Lambda Literary Awards in two dozen categories. 

But Flowers’s literary activism did not stop with the LLF. He was also the unpaid publisher of BLOOM, a literary journal for LGBT writers and artists that he had created with New York friends in 2004, while also working full time at the nonprofit Academy of American Poets.

“One of my dreams came true when I launched BLOOM,” said the 45-year-old Flowers, who now lives in West Hollywood. “We published five issues between 2004 and 2007, and the response was incredible. Everyone loved the way it looked and we had about 500 subscribers.”

He describes his labor of love by citing BLOOM’S unconventional mission statement:

BLOOM does not discriminate against the imagination. Gardeners must identify as Queer (LGBT), but the flora of their labor need not serve any pre-conceived notion of beauty. Peonies, sweet Williams, ragweed, and gladiolas – every shade and shape of blossom – all are welcome. Let the garden grow.

Unfortunately, the garden withered as Flowers clocked long hours getting the LLF established in Los Angeles.

“I was working nonstop at Lambda Literary, editing the Lambda Book Report and the other programs,” Flowers said. “I just couldn't do it all, and so I shelved [BLOOM] for a while.”

In 2009, Flowers left the LLF – he now works as a fund manager with the American Civil Liberties Union – and BLOOM showed new growth.

“People still asked about it and sent material to be considered,” Flowers said. “So once I left Lambda, I started planning the resurrection.”

That same year, prior to the passage of Prop 8, the ballot measure that invalidated same-sex marriage, Flowers and his longtime partner, Konstantine Alexopoulos, were one of 18,000 gay couples in California who married officially (they celebrate their tenth anniversary together in June). 

Last year, they bought a small, vintage house on Crescent Heights Boulevard, just within the West Hollywood boundary, which they share with a sizable book collection and their 9-year-old yellow lab, Luella.

Finally settled in, Flowers turned his attention to BLOOM. Issue number six was published in the summer of 2010, with the next one now on the drawing board.  Meanwhile, he is preparing two poetry chapbooks, winners of a BLOOM chapbook competition held last year. 

“I'm working to get them published in April, and issue 7 for September, in time for the West Hollywood Book Fair [on October 1], where I'll share a booth with Stephen Soucy and Modernist Press,” Flowers said. 

His busy literary life began in 1987 when he moved to Manhattan to work in publishing – “Books mean the world to me,” he said – first as a book editor and later as an organizer in the nonprofit sector.

“As an adult, when I learned how people and their history can be denied, censored, etc., it just seemed more and more important to support writers and what they do," he said. "Most of my career has been spent working to celebrate and support two of the most invisible kinds of writers: poets and LGBT writers.”

Leaving the Bohemian atmosphere of the Chelsea district, where he lived during his last 15 years in New York, for the comparative glitter and slickness of West Hollywood has not hindered his life’s mission, he said.

“When Konstantine and I started telling folks we were moving to L.A., people thought I was crazy. ‘Really?  L.A.? Why not San Francisco?’” he said. But the couple wanted to make a major change, trading skyscrapers for more sunlight, among other things.

“When we decided to look for a house, we wanted WeHo [so we could] be more central in the gay community. Living here has given us what we most missed from NYC, besides the people: places to walk to," Flowers said. "Konstantine loves Russian food, so he is in heaven with the Russian food shops and bakeries. I love walking, so I'm happy whenever I can do that.”

“We could not be happier,” he added.