A literary festival, Akshar, will be organised by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur from October 14 to 16. The festival is being conducted in collaboration with the Rajbhasha Prakoshth, the Shivani Centre for the Nurture and Re-Integration of Hindi & Other Indian Languages, and Gaatha — an audio-hosting platform and an IIT Kanpur-incubated company.

This is the first-ever edition of the festival and the event will celebrate the commencement of the centenary year celebrations of the life and works of pre-eminent Hindi novelist Gaura Pant, better known by her pen name 'Shivani'. Pant's works were not only widely-read but also translated into other languages. She is said to have pioneered women-centric fiction.

Apart from literary discussions on her work, the event also includes a story recital of some of Pant's most famous stories by the storytelling group Katharang and the enactment of her story Apradhini by the theatre group Theatre Nisha.

According to a statement issued by IIT Kanpur, some of the attendees of the festival include Dr Pushpesh Pant, Dr Mrinal Pande, Prof Shambhunath Tiwari and many noted poets and performers like Veeru Sonker, Pankaj Chaturvedi, Dr Naresh Saxena, Praveen Shukla, Shlesh Gautam.

The three-day fete will also include a book fair with leading publishers participating. Panel discussions on poetry and the relevance of literature in the contemporary world and a Kavi Sammelan — a gathering of poets— round off the list of events in the offing.