THE BUSHWICK BOOK CLUB:
“The Bushwick Book Club takes humdrum book reading to a new level.” The New York Times
“The greatest honor I received from writing my book has been the BBC writing songs about it, very grateful!” – Amy Schumer (The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo)
Started ten years ago on a dare in New York, the Bushwick Book Club now hosts events in cities across the US, in Malmo Sweden, and in London, England. Employing the talents of local songwriters, actors, poets, and even chefs, the artists are tasked with plumbing the depths of a chosen literary gem to create that rare and beautiful thing – a new song (or performance, poem, film or snack). The artists then come together to perform their creations at a live public show.
To kick off 2020, the Bushwick Book Club will be presenting artists’ responses to CULL, a sharp, outrageous, and uncomfortable satire about the deadly underside side of discrimination. Author and researcher Dr. Tanvir Bush, wrote this dark satire about the current British welfare system highlighting the desperate plight of disabled people in Britain today. She will open the show with a short reading. Ironically, the Bushwick Book Club had to delay their artistic celebration of the book whilst they found a suitable ‘disabled friendly’ club to host the event.
Maggie Gee has written of this novel: ‘Where is the satirist we need now, with the welfare state in chaos and politics a TV reality show? She is the fabulous, funny, sharp, outrageous Tanvir Bush, and Britain must read her.” Artists have long been associated with holding a mirror up to society, and with its excellent cast of songwriters and disturbing but wickedly funny subject matter, Bushwick Book Club’s response to CULL is sure to be a fantastic show.
The event hopes to accommodate the contributions of volunteers and researchers from the D4D Project (Disability and Community: www.d4d.org.uk), who will participate in the show via a tele- presence robot created by Bristol Robotics and facilitated by Praminda Caleb-Solly.
Bushwick Bookclub: London is produced and hosted by musician, Amanda Thorpe, and literature-lover, Georgina Jackson. Over the past year, they have gathered a selection of London talent to respond to A Christmas Memory (Truman Capote), Little Liar (Julia Grey), The Note (Zoë Folbigg), Reservoir 13 (Jon McGregor), To Throw Away Unopened (Viv Albertine), Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegut) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Suess).
Bushwick Book Club shows have garnered praise from publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Out NY, and the Village Voice (which awarded us a Best of NYC award for “Best Literary- Musical Crossover” in 2009).
