Brazzaville lights up for RELICO 2025
Screens flashed and cameras clicked as the eighth Rentrée Littéraire du Congo opened on 26 September at the Manguiers bookshop. Despite a streamlined format, organisers from PEN-Centre Congo‐Brazzaville, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville and Elongo kept the buzz alive, drawing students, teachers and casual readers into an all-day celebration.
Professor Zacharie Bowao, master of ceremonies, praised a generation that “writes with both feet on Congolese soil and eyes wide open on the world”. His warm words set a tone of confident optimism that pulsed through every table-round, photo corner and social-media live feed.
Eight years after its launch, RELICO has become a high point on the cultural calendar, offering young Brazzavillois a rare chance to hear their favourite authors in person, grab selfies and walk away with signed copies that cost no more than a café lunch.
Opening lesson: roots and horizons
In the inaugural lecture, writer and departmental book director Alphonse Chardin Nkala described the printed page as both anchor and compass. Linking childhood memories of reading under a kerosene lamp to global dialogues, he insisted that protecting books “means keeping alive the possibility of being rooted yet outward-looking”.
Listeners, many clutching notebooks, nodded as Nkala traced how shared stories cement identity, transmit values and encourage respectful curiosity toward other cultures. For teachers in the hall, his message offered ready-made classroom material: literature is not a luxury but a civic tool.
Writers’ voices: dignity, love and duty
Moderator Fidèle Biakoro then steered the first roundtable, giving guests just three minutes each to pitch their newest titles. Kali-Tchikati’s novel “The Survivor’s Wings” called for reclaimed human dignity, while Asie Dominique De Marseille’s “The Colonel’s Republic” sketched a political allegory of modern Africa.
Lewa-Let Mandah blended memoir, fiction and manifesto in “Call to Patriotic Duty”, urging citizens to move “from complaint to commitment”. César Balthazar Obambi’s poetry collection “Words, Love and Tears” dived into passion and grief, and Octave Mouandza’s “Long Life for Nothing” offered a stark philosophical take on eroding values.
Questions flew from the floor about character inspiration, editing hurdles and favourite writing playlists. The authors answered with humour and candour, proving literature can feel as immediate as a late-night tweet thread.
Publishers face the cost challenge
Focus then shifted to those who turn manuscripts into objects. Professor Mukala Kadima Nzuji of Hemar Editions and newcomer Weldy Telemine Kiongo, alias ING, agreed that high paper prices and narrow distribution networks still hinder Congolese books.
Both called for smarter logistics, closer ties with schools and tax incentives that would let publishers print locally instead of shipping small runs from abroad. “We need a book value chain as robust as our music scene,” Kadima summarised, drawing applause from printers in the audience.
When literature meets music
The final panel, led by broadcaster Ninelle Balenda, explored cross-fertilisation between notes and words. Ferréol Gassackys opened with “Pachelbel, an Overlooked Genius”, arguing that Baroque harmonies echo African oral cadences more than many realise.
Novelist-essayist Emile Gankama exposed social fault lines in “Tribalist, Yourself” and the city-slicker illusions of “Harbour City”. Nicole Mbala’s collective work “In the Shade of Knots” captured ten women’s lockdown diaries, while Etienne Perez Epagna’s “Trapped Dream” dissected dignity, faith and colonial legacy.
Malachie Ngouloubi closed the session by reading a poem from “Félix Tshisekedi, Root of Progress”, his voice weaving through guitar riffs provided by a local trio, illustrating how words and music can travel one road.
Grand Prix Jean Malonga 2025 laureates
Cheers erupted as the jury unveiled this year’s winners. Emile Gankama seized the fiction crown, dedicating it to Jean Malonga, the first Congolese novelist whose passing forty years ago still resonates. Etienne Perez Epagna received a special recognition award for consistency across genres.
Weldy Telemine Kiongo was honoured for literary production, Ferréol Gassackys for essay writing, and Malachie Cyrille Ngouloubi for poetry. “These trophies salute the power of words and the courage of minds that keep memory, dialogue and hope alive,” the organisers declared, posing for a burst of smartphone flashes.
Next page for Congo’s young readers
Coordinator Florent Sogni Zaou wrapped up the day stressing how a reduced-length programme still delivered its “spirit of sharing and discovery”. Partners hinted at a 2026 edition focused on interactive workshops and TikTok-friendly book trailers to engage even more high-schoolers.
Until then, libraries in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire will display the prize-winning titles, while social networks replay highlight videos under the hashtag #RELICO2025, ensuring that the conversations ignited among aisles of paper keep spreading far beyond the banks of the Congo River.
