Johannesburg, Aug 23 - Wazwan cuisine of Kashmir, a retrospective of films starring Shabana Azmi and a literary festival featuring Shobha De are among the highlights of a six-week Indian arts festival across three South African cities from Sep 5.

The third edition of the Shared Histories Festival will kick off with the 20th anniversary celebrations of South African Indian dance company Tribhangi Dance Theatre in Johannesburg, where the group's pioneering work in fusing Indian and African dance forms will be featured.

This will be followed by youth workshops between Indian and South African NGOs, a 'well-being experience' day featuring 13 South African yoga schools and an Ayurvedic conference with doctors from India.

Music and dance performances by celebrated Indian artistes, including flautist Pundit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Odissi group Nrityagram, and the Daksha Seth Dance Company, will also take place.

There will be a week-long food festival highlighting Kashmiri cuisine as well as an art exhibition in both Durban and Johannesburg and a literature festival hosted by the Centre for Indian Studies at the University of Witwatersrand here at which leading Indian and South African writers and poets will participate.

For Indian Consul-General Navdeep Suri, the Shared Histories Festival this year will be a highlight of his tenure, after initiating it three years ago.

'Shared Histories is now a brand on its own in South Africa, seen as an integral part of the cultural calendar, not only in Johannesburg but in Durban and other places as well,' Suri told IANS.