✦ oakland’s musical book club ✦
A book club that's actually a concert
One book.
Ten local musicians.
An afternoon of songs you might never hear again.
✨ how a show works
We choose a book
Each show begins with a single text. In the past, we’ve drawn from writers like Octavia Butler, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Tommy Orange, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ursula Le Guin, and locals like Trinidad Escobar, Brontez Purnell, and Tommy Orange.
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Ten musicians take it home
We invite ten local artists to read the book and write an original song in response. This is no book report: they’re free to source inspo from any facet of the book, big or small.
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They perform it live for the first (and maybe only!) time
These ‘baby songs’ have never been heard before: they're fresh, a little vulnerable, and full of creative life force. There's something special about being in the room for that.
03
who we are
We love books, indie music, and Oakland!
Our team (L to R): Mia Pixley, Yoko OK, Nikki Bonsol, and Claire Calderón.
Other things we love:
Encouraging vulnerability over perfection.
Cultures of mutual appreciation, collaboration, and openness to ideas that contribute to collective transformation.
Paying our artists.
This runs on community support
Each Bushwick Book Club Oakland event is produced by our volunteer team. Our shows are free or low-cost, and every artist gets paid. That balance only works because people like you chip in.
If this sounds like something you vibe with, we'd love your help keeping it going!
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It sure is! The original Bushwick Book Club was founded in 2009 by Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, Susan Hwang. Since then, branches of the book club have sprouted all over the world, in cities such as Los Angeles; Santa Barbara; Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; New Orleans, LA; Greenville, SC; Malmo, Sweden; Toronto, Canada; and of course, Oakland.
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We try to organize 2-3 events per year. Check out our calendar for our next show, and sign up for our mailing list to get updates in your inbox! (We typically only send out a few emails per year).
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Each of our events celebrates marginalized artists’ voices, including, but not limited to, artists who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, cis- and trans women, nonbinary/gender non-conforming, neuro-atypical, and disabled.
Please reach out to us at bushwickbookcluboakland (at) gmail.com to express your interest in joining our roster!
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You can reach us via email at bushwickbookcluboakland (at) gmail.com.