WOW: Women of the World Festival

It’s been a full ten years since theatre director Jude Kelly decided to break away from the male-centric programming at the Southbank Centre to develop Women of the World festival – a weekend of lectures, debates and workshops that remains the biggest International Women’s Day event in London.

For its tenth anniversary, WOW will welcome headline speakers Shazia Mirza, Scarlett Curtis, Sandi Toksvig, Elif Shafak, Julia Gillard, Caroline Criado Perez, ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ author Emma Dabiri and former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson.

There will also be panel discussions on the future of trans activism, an interactive session on what it means to be intersex and a headline tribute to Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, whose novel ‘The Bluest Eye’ turns 50 this year. 

For 2020, WOW has returned to its day pass system, where you can either purchase tickets to individual events or a £40 pass that will get you into everything on that day.