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news from BLOOM

February 5, 2012

Dear Friend of BLOOM,

BLOOM 7 goes to the printer tomorrow! Copies will be available at AWP at the end of the month, and subscriber copies will be mailed the first week of March. To the left is the fabulous cover, featuring a photograph from Gabriel Padhila.

Other news: The 2011 Chapbook winners will be announced in early March, as well as judges and guidelines for the 2012 contest.

Thanks for all your support, and please spread the word that a new BLOOM is about to arrive.

Best,

Charles Flowers

recent updates from BLOOM

AWP Chicago approaches (March 1 - 3), and BLOOM will be there - sharing a booth with Lambda Literary Foundation creating a queer hotspot in the Bookfair. BLOOM 7, aka the Spring 2012 issue, will debut there, along with guidelines for our 2012 Chapbook contest. If all goes well, we will be able to announce our 2011 chapbook winners as well.

On Thursday, March 1, BLOOM will present DIVINING DIVAS: A reading from a new anthology by gay men about their muses -- 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm - reading starts at 6:30, featuring

*Jericho Brown DIANA ROSS
* Regie Cabico NINA SIMONE
* Bryan Borland MAYA ANGELOU
* Joseph Campana AUDREY HEPBURN
* Steve Fellner MISS PIGGY
* Charles Flowers BARBRA STREISAND
* Michael Klein LAURA NYRO
* Paul Lisicky JONI MITCHELL
* Lonely Christopher GERTRUDE STEIN
* Angelo Nikolopoulos GRETA GARBO
* Ruben Quesada OPRAH WINFREY
* Douglas Ray DIXIE CARTER/Designing Women

With Special Guests: Kathie Berquist, Ana Bozicevic, Sarah Browning, Dorianne Laux, and Elaine Sexton. REHAB Cocktail Lounge, 3641 N. Halstead Street, Chicago, IL 6061.

Stay tuned for more AWP details . . .

A word about our fall fundraising goal -- several of you contributed, and I am very grateful. But we raised less than $1,000, far short of our goal. I am hoping the new issue will inspire One goal that every literary venture faces is funding. We believe in words and the power of words and the money will work itself out. Those of you who work as writers or teach or work at a nonprofit know that a little bit goes a long way in the literary world.  I ask you to consider doing one of the following:

• Purchase a chapbook (see below) and discover a new talent while also helping BLOOM;
• Subscribe to BLOOM, or give a gift subscription;
• Make a donation– for as little as $20 you really can make a difference for BLOOM.

What your money will accomplish:

• Two issues of BLOOM during 2012
• Three chapbooks (a free set to anyone who donates $100 or more)
• A better website (where you will be listed as a Friend of BLOOM)
• Resources for BLOOM to become an official 501©3 recognized by the IRS and eligible for grants

I am grateful to all of you for making BLOOM so successful. With the next issue, BLOOM will have published 206 different queer writers (41 prose and 165 poets); BLOOM will continue to flourish with your help.

Best wishes,

Charles Flowers, Editor & Publisher

P.S.  Three weeks ago, two friends in New York sent a picture of BLOOM 6 from the Occupy Wall Street library – queers and queer words really are everywhere!

Bruised Gospels: Poems by Phillip B. Williams,
selected by Minnie Bruce Pratt

Single Copy $10 each

A Small Uprising: A Story by Alicia Shandra Holmes,
selected by Richard McCann

Single Copy $10 each

Set of both for only $16!

For orders of more than 1 each, or multiple sets of both please send an email to queerarts@gmail.com.

NEW EMAIL: queerarts@gmail.com

NEW ADDRESS: 5482 Wilshire Blvd, #1616, Los Angeles, CA 90036

NOW ON FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/bloomliteraryjournal