Following the traditions of storytelling that sets the rumour as a container of knowledge that allows for speculation, writer Makenzy Orcel and poet Rodney Saint-Éloi host each other in a conversation centring their experiences as writers contributing to the collective remembrance and celebration of Haiti.

Books are cemeteries where dead people think aloud, one says. In an effort to reaffirm the tenure of Bwa Kayiman in the midst of the forest and think together about its possible re-enactments in the contemporary era, Saint-Éloi and Orcel speak on the performativity of writing and how they both have allowed their readers to see, feel, and learn from the resilience of Haitian communities.

Kongossas are intimate conversations and sharing moments in which personal and professional experiences are brought together with the aim of sharing knowledge: stories, anecdotes, affirmations, intuitions, questions, doubts, agreements, and disagreements, all of which mingle in the space of the conversation.

The Kongossa is inspired by the word ‘Konkossa’ of Akan etymology in Ghana but today is widely used in Cameroon, the Congos, and in the majority of Central Africa to refer to the rumour—the starting point of information that circulates on its own time. The Kongossa at HKW therefore is imagined as a non-hierarchical learning space that highlights the sharing of knowledge around a speech co-constructed in a long process of storytelling.