WOW founder, Jude Kelly opens the day and is joined onstage by the first woman President of The Magic Circle, magician Megan Swann for a splash of environmental magic!

In 2021 Megan became the first woman and youngest ever person to be elected as President of The Magic Circle, the world's most prestigious magic society. She uses magic as a tool for communication for the climate emergency and describes this as 'eco-magic'.

In a year of uncertainty and turmoil, WOW hears from some of the women who have been most impacted by political upheaval with an urgent conversation on Afghanistan. Mariana Katzarova, Founder of RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, RAW's patron, will present the 2021 Anna Politkovskaya Award to Fawzia Koofi, a former member of the Afghan Parliament, its first-ever female Deputy Speaker, and renowned human rights and women’s rights defender, who remained in Afghanistan, with heavily-armed Taliban fighters stationed outside her home in Kabul until 30 August 2021, the day the last US forces left Afghanistan.

Fawzia Koofi, who continues to mobilise urgent support for the women and the people of Afghanistan with the world leaders and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, who led a drive last year to help more than 100 Afghan judges and their families flee to safety, will be joined on stage by one of those judges, Fawzia Amini, her life under threat, who managed to escape. Together they’ll discuss the current situation for women’s rights in Afghanistan and the work that is happening on the ground to support women judges and human rights defenders.

Together they’ll discuss the current situation for women’s rights in Afghanistan and the work that is happening on the ground.

WOW will also hear from the contributors to My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women about their lives and work in exile (published by MacLehose Press. Untold Narratives CIC works with writers marginalised in society by community or conflict).

Come and have your mind blown with WOW Big Ideas as five different speakers join us on stage to speak about the issues close to their heart.

WOW Big Ideas features a line-up of short talks from the following speakers:

• Mother, teacher, priest, Archdeacon and activist Mina Smallman On her family’s story and being let down, Mina examines why women of colour don’t matter in the media, the police’s mentality towards women and what we must do to reform Police forces nationally in order to protect ourselves.

• Scientist and author Camilla Pang discusses being weird in this talk on what science can teach us about love and relationships

• Writer and artist Khairani Barokka talks eco-ableism--what it is, why it's important to stamp out, and why disability justice is inextricable from environmental and climate justice.

• Rhiane Fatinikun talks about why and how she founded Black Girls Hike, an organisation which provides a safe space for Black women to explore the outdoors and reconnect with nature.

• Mariyah Kayat,Co founder of Speakers Corner, talks about the collective of women and young girls from Bradford who campaign about issues that affect the young people and women in Bradford and around the world.

Made possible through the British Council Gender Grant

Be prepared to laugh, chortle and snort as award-winning comedian Sophie Duker performs a hilarious set for us live on stage. Sophie won the Funny Women Best Comedy Writer Award as nominated by her industry peers in the 2021 Funny Women Awards.

Grab a bite to eat or head on down to the WOW Marketplace

Jude returns to the stage with Palestinian singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Rasha Nahas, before a spine tingling performance by the WOW Sounds artist.

Born and raised in Haifa, Rasha's sound was shaped in the Palestinian underground scene; fabrics of electric guitars combined with classical technique, with a penchant for fierce yet intimate storytelling carrying bold, unabashed poetry and howling violins.

Join us in this special in memoriam event honouring the life and legacy of pioneering feminist thinker, bell hooks. Our speakers reflect on how her profound life's work has impacted their own and why, as bell hooks famously wrote ‘Love is never simply a feeling but an action’.

Speakers include: author and activist, Nova Reid and award winning journalist and writer, Reni Eddo Lodge.

Sandi Toksvig draws the day to a close with her insights on fun, politics… and everything in between.

Closingsummary by Jude Kelly.