The Bushwick Book Club was started in 2009 by Brooklyn based singer-songwriter, Susan Hwang.  At every Bushwick Book Club performance, a book is selected, and a collection of local musicians read the book and write songs inspired by them.  Over the past decade, branches of the book club have sprouted all over the world, in cities such as Portland, LA, Seattle, Malmo, Sweden, Santa Barbara, New Orleans, Greenville, SC and Toronto, Canada.

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Now, Oakland, CA has its very own Bushwick Book Club!  BBC Oakland specifically selects literature written by authors of color and members of LGBTQ communities. Each season a book is chosen and group of select singer-songwriters and composers read the book, write a song inspired by it, and perform their pieces for an audience of enthusiastic book people.  Bushwick Book Club Oakland selects books that take up issues of race, gender, class, and mental health giving a place for artists of these communities to share their voices to an audience of similar representation and allies. Audience members are welcomed to read the book ahead of time for added fun.