Literature and culture: Dakar hosts the 70th anniversary of the 1st international congress of black writers and artists

The Senegalese capital will host the 70th anniversary of the 1st international congress of black writers and artists. This scientific meeting which will take place from September 19 to 22, 2026 at the Museum of Black Civilizations will bring together writers, artists, researchers and cultural actors from the African continent and its diaspora.

Seventy years ago, at the Sorbonne, black writers and artists from the four corners of the world gathered for the first time. Their goal was to assert cultural unity and denounce colonization. It was the 1st International Congress of Black Writers and Artists, a founding act which resonates today with renewed force.

“This 70th anniversary, organized by Présence Africaine in partnership with the Museum of Civilizations and various other partners, is part of this legacy. This congress will take place from September 19 to 22, 2026 at the Museum of Black Civilizations,” inform the organizers in a press release that has reached us.

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Both anchored in the commitments of 1956 and turned towards the challenges of the present and the future, it will bring together writers, artists, researchers and cultural actors from the African continent and its diaspora.

The discussions will be structured according to the document around three stages, namely the legacies of the 1956 Congress but also the riches of Black African culture. For them, it will also be a question of taking stock of the current cultural crisis through the contemporary realities of the continent and its diaspora.

This congress will be an opportunity to define the paths of tomorrow for black writers and artists, in the light of the upheavals linked to digital technology and artificial intelligence.

Mariama DIEME