IIT Kanpur’s lit fest Akshar is commemorating the life of novelist Gaura Pant ‘Shivani’

Akshar – An IIT Kanpur Literature Festival, in a first of its kind is being jointly organized by 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 SIIC, IIT Kanpur incubated company from Oct 14-16.

In its first iteration, Akshar is celebrating the commencement of the centenary year celebrations of the life and works of pre-eminent Hindi novelist Smt. Gaura Pant better-known by her pen name ‘Shivani’. She was one of the most famous Hindi novelists whose novels were read ardently by scores of readers throughout the country and also translated in other languages. Shivani ji was also one of the pioneers of women – centric fiction novels who presented the women in her novels as very strong and rooted characters.

The 3-day event will be marked with a celebration of the life and works of Shivani ji. It will be graced by the participation of eminent literary and academic personalities of the country like Dr. Pushpesh Pant, Dr. Mrinal Pande, Prof. Shambhunath Tiwari, and many noted poets and performers like Sh. Veeru Sonker, Pankaj Chaturvedi, Dr. Naresh Saxena, Praveen Shukla, Shlesh Gautam, to name a few. A book fair with some leading publishers would also be organized alongside the event.

Few highlights from the event schedule include a discussion on the literary works of Shivani ji, a Kavya Sandhya on the evening of 14th October 2022; a panel discussion on “Aaj ke Daur Mein Sahitya ki Praasangikta” on the 15th and a MahaKavi Sammelan on 16th October 2022. There will also be an Open Mic on the 15^th October 2022. Besides these, there will be a story recital of Shivani ji’s most famous stories by Katharang – A Storytelling Group and an enactment of Shivani ji’s story ‘Apradhini’ by ‘Nisha’ – A Theatre Group.

The events on the first two days (i.e., 14^th – 15^th October) will take place in the Outreach Auditorium, IIT Kanpur and the last day (i.e., 16^th October) will take place in the Main Auditorium.

The event is expected to familiarise the attendees with the various facets of Hindi literature in general and the life and works of Shivani Ji in particular. The Literature Festival and the Book Fair will also be open to public from outside the IIT Kanpur campus in limited numbers.