diff --git a/pyathenajdbc/__init__.py b/pyathenajdbc/__init__.py
index e9f7412..64e1d05 100644
--- a/pyathenajdbc/__init__.py
+++ b/pyathenajdbc/__init__.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
                                                               ATHENA_JAR)
 ATHENA_DRIVER_CLASS_NAME = 'com.simba.athena.jdbc.Driver'
 ATHENA_CONNECTION_STRING = 'jdbc:awsathena://AwsRegion={region};'
+LOG4J_PROPERTIES = 'log4j.properties'
 
 
 class DBAPITypeObject:
@@ -60,9 +61,9 @@ def __eq__(self, other):
 def connect(s3_staging_dir=None, access_key=None, secret_key=None,
             region_name=None, schema_name='default', profile_name=None, credential_file=None,
             jvm_path=None, jvm_options=None, converter=None, formatter=None,
-            driver_path=None, **kwargs):
+            driver_path=None, log4j_conf=None, **kwargs):
     from pyathenajdbc.connection import Connection
     return Connection(s3_staging_dir, access_key, secret_key,
                       region_name, schema_name, profile_name, credential_file,
                       jvm_path, jvm_options, converter, formatter,
-                      driver_path, **kwargs)
+                      driver_path, log4j_conf, **kwargs)
diff --git a/pyathenajdbc/connection.py b/pyathenajdbc/connection.py
index f4bf2c1..769e7ea 100644
--- a/pyathenajdbc/connection.py
+++ b/pyathenajdbc/connection.py
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 import jpype
 from future.utils import iteritems
 
-from pyathenajdbc import (ATHENA_CONNECTION_STRING, ATHENA_DRIVER_CLASS_NAME, ATHENA_JAR)
+from pyathenajdbc import (ATHENA_CONNECTION_STRING, ATHENA_DRIVER_CLASS_NAME,
+                          ATHENA_JAR, LOG4J_PROPERTIES)
 from pyathenajdbc.converter import JDBCTypeConverter
 from pyathenajdbc.cursor import Cursor
 from pyathenajdbc.error import NotSupportedError, ProgrammingError
@@ -21,11 +22,12 @@
 class Connection(object):
 
     _ENV_S3_STAGING_DIR = 'AWS_ATHENA_S3_STAGING_DIR'
+    _BASE_PATH = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 
     def __init__(self, s3_staging_dir=None, access_key=None, secret_key=None,
                  region_name=None, schema_name='default', profile_name=None, credential_file=None,
                  jvm_path=None, jvm_options=None, converter=None, formatter=None,
-                 driver_path=None, **driver_kwargs):
+                 driver_path=None, log4j_conf=None, **driver_kwargs):
         if s3_staging_dir:
             self.s3_staging_dir = s3_staging_dir
         else:
@@ -63,7 +65,7 @@ def __init__(self, s3_staging_dir=None, access_key=None, secret_key=None,
             self.region_name = session.get_config_variable('region')
             assert self.region_name, 'Required argument `region_name` not found.'
 
-        self._start_jvm(jvm_path, jvm_options, driver_path)
+        self._start_jvm(jvm_path, jvm_options, driver_path, log4j_conf)
 
         props = self._build_driver_args(**driver_kwargs)
         jpype.JClass(ATHENA_DRIVER_CLASS_NAME)
@@ -75,14 +77,20 @@ def __init__(self, s3_staging_dir=None, access_key=None, secret_key=None,
 
     @classmethod
     @synchronized
-    def _start_jvm(cls, jvm_path, jvm_options, driver_path):
+    def _start_jvm(cls, jvm_path, jvm_options, driver_path, log4j_conf):
         if jvm_path is None:
             jvm_path = jpype.get_default_jvm_path()
         if driver_path is None:
-            driver_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), ATHENA_JAR)
+            driver_path = os.path.join(cls._BASE_PATH, ATHENA_JAR)
+        if log4j_conf is None:
+            log4j_conf = os.path.join(cls._BASE_PATH, LOG4J_PROPERTIES)
         if not jpype.isJVMStarted():
             _logger.debug('JVM path: %s', jvm_path)
-            args = ['-server', '-Djava.class.path={0}'.format(driver_path)]
+            args = [
+                '-server',
+                '-Djava.class.path={0}'.format(driver_path),
+                '-Dlog4j.configuration=file:{0}'.format(log4j_conf)
+            ]
             if jvm_options:
                 args.extend(jvm_options)
             _logger.debug('JVM args: %s', args)
diff --git a/pyathenajdbc/log4j.properties b/pyathenajdbc/log4j.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a091230
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyathenajdbc/log4j.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+log4j.rootLogger=FATAL, null
+log4j.appender.null=com.simba.athena.shaded.apache.log4j.varia.NullAppender
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f3c1c64..2f78d04 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ def run(self):
     package_data={
         '': ['LICENSE', '*.rst'],
         'jdbc': ['*.txt'],
-        _PACKAGE_NAME.lower(): ['*.jar'],
+        _PACKAGE_NAME.lower(): ['*.jar', '*.properties'],
     },
     install_requires=[
         'future',