WOW – Women of the World Festival 2024

This year marks the 13th anniversary of WOW Festival, which launched in 2010 to celebrate the centenary of International Women’s Day. WOW is now a global movement that has held festivals across six continents and over 30 locations.

The London event takes place at Southbank Centre in Waterloo . Spread across three days, the aim of the festival is to celebrate the lives of women, girls and non-binary people while exploring the global issues they face through debate, workshops,and performances.

Each year, world-renowned artists, activists, writers and performers come to the Southbank Centre. These have included Angela Davies, Malala Yousafzai, Annie Lennox, Patrick Stewart, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and Salma Hayek.

What’s on at WOW Festival 2023

Playing as part of WOW London Festival 2023, don’t miss your chance to see this exclusive, one-off screening of Suzie Miller’s award-winning play, starring Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) in her amazing West End debut. Acclaimed musician LayFullstop joins the WOW Festival on stage in the Clore Ballroom to perform her genre-defying work, experimenting with elements of jazz electronica, gospel, soul and hip hop in an exclusive free gig; also sex educator and relationship advisor Oloni heads up a discussion about all things sex, love and relationships.

This year also sees the return of WOW Speed Mentoring, WOW Bites, and the WOW Marketplace.

Kids at WOW Festival 2023

There are events suitable for under 18s too. Dapo Adeola – the illustrator who has inspired little girls all over the world to dress up as his character, Rocket, from the children’s book, Look Up! – presents his newly curated book, Joyful, Joyful: Stories Celebrating Black Voices. He’s joined by the other members of a much-loved and inspirational trio, writers Hannah Lee and Maame Blue; through interactive readings and live drawing, they’ll show how important it is to ensure that the stories of all children are committed, loud and proud, to the page.

Kids can also party on with the current Guinness World Record holder for the world’s youngest club DJ at a free daytime rave for the whole family ans there’s a kids’ Feminist Corner for both girls and boys.

Tickets For WOW Festival 2023

Many events for the festival are free. Pricing for individual events varies but you can buy day passes for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each day festival-goers can explore a totally different line up of talks, workshops, performances, music and more.

If there are a few things you want to check out on a specific day, double check that it’s included with your pass first.

Getting to WOW Festival 2023

The Southbank Centre is a short distance from Waterloo (Mainline Railway, Underground (Northern, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines). It’s also directly across the bridge from Embankment (Nothern, Bakerloo, Circle and District lines).