SCHWARZ-BART HOUSE

The house is only open for the Journées du Patrimoine and for special evenings (screenings, concerts, artist residencies, exhibitions, literary encounters...), which are organized once a month. It is not possible to visit outside these times. The association La Souvenance-Maison Schwarz-Bart manages the site and keeps you informed of events via its social networks.

Conceived, imagined and built in the 1960s by the legendary writing couple André and Simone Schwarz-Bart, La Souvenance is a creative meeting place open to Caribbean arts and culture, unique in Guadeloupe. In 2012, the house was awarded the Maison des Illustres label by the French Ministry of Culture, for its role in preserving the memory of people who have distinguished themselves in French history.

The building houses a large terrace for special events, a grand salon with superb furnishings and works of art, and the two writers' study. Read Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes, written four-handed by the couple, or La Mulâtresse Solitude by André Schwarz-Bart, who died in 2006. Simone Schwarz-Bart looks back on her life with her husband in Nous n'avons pas vu passer les jours, co-written with Yann Plougastel (2020). In his novel La souvenance, Guadeloupean writer Ernest Pépin tells the story of this writing couple. In 2022, the house was selected by the Fondation du Patrimoine to receive funding for its restoration.