WOW - Woman of the World announce initial line-up

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GISÈLE PELICOT AND TARANA BURKE TO HEADLINE WOW LONDON FESTIVAL 2027 

• A LANDMARK EVENT ON JUSTICE, TESTIMONY AND SURVIVAL: GISÈLE PELICOT AND TARANA BURKE DISCUSS PELICOT’S MEMOIR ‘A HYMN TO LIFE’ AND 10 YEARS SINCE #METOO, IN A HEADLINE EVENING CONVERSATION HOSTED BY WOW FOUNDER JUDE KELLY 
• WOW’S LONDON FESTIVAL RUNS 5 - 7 MARCH 2027 ACROSS THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE WITH LIMITED EARLY BIRD TICKETS NOW ON SALE 
• THE THREE DAY FESTIVAL WILL TAKE OVER THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE WITH DAY PASSES AVAILABLE
• DAY PASS PROGRAMME TO FEATURE PANEL CONVERSATIONS, PERFORMANCES, COMEDY, MUSIC AND WORKSHOPS, DISCUSSING TOPICS FROM TRADWIVES TO VIBE CODING, THE ROLL BACK OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO DISABILITY AND YOUTH ACTIVISM, SEX, TECH AND MORE 
• TWO DISTINCT STRANDS OF WOW’S WORK ‘SHAMELESS!’, EXPLORING SEXUAL VIOLENCE, AND ‘BOYS AND MEN’ EXPLORING MODERN MASCULINITY TO CONVERGE AT WOW LONDON FESTIVAL FOR THE FIRST TIME 
• FURTHER EVENTS AND LINE-UP TO BE ANNOUNCED 

WOW - Women of the World has today announced the initial line up for the WOW London Festival; the world’s biggest festival celebrating women, girls and non-binary people which returns to London from 5 - 7 March to mark International Women’s Day 2027. 

Across three days WOW - Women of the World will take over the Southbank Centre with a packed line-up including world class speakers, inspirational activists, musicians, artists and comedians for discussions, workshops, performances and debates. 

Headlining the Friday night, WOW presents two of the most influential names in gender equity, French activist and author Gisèle Pelicot and US activist and founder of the #MeToo movement Tarana Burke in conversation, hosted by WOW Founder Jude Kelly. 

Ten years ago, the MeToo hashtag sparked a global movement for change. In 2024, Gisèle Pelicot made the extraordinary decision to waive her anonymity, igniting a new reckoning around sexual violence. Her ground-breaking memoir of survival and hope, A Hymn to Life, was a number one bestseller on hardback publication, and Pelicot joins WOW on its paperback launch.

For more than 25 years, activist, advocate and author Tarana Burke has worked at the intersection of  sexual violence and racial justice. Alongside founding Me Too in 2006, Tarana is the Chief Vision Officer at me too. International and the Co-Chair of All In, a coalition of global leaders committed to ending gender-based violence, who are united to accelerate progress. 

Now for the first time together Pelicot and Burke share the stage to reflect on their stories, to explore how shame begins to change sides, and what it takes to build a world where justice is possible. The conversation will be led by WOW Founder Jude Kelly, and will cover power, truth, solidarity, and the role each of us plays in shaping what comes next.  

Tarana Burke, Chief Vision Officer at me too. International commented: 

“I'm so excited to join WOW again and be in conversation with Gisèle Pelicot, who is an inspiration for all of us. I'm looking forward to bringing this critical conversation about autonomy and safety to the WOW audience.”

Jude Kelly, Founder of WOW - Women of the World Foundation commented:

“We are delighted to be bringing the WOW Festival back to London in 2027 for what will be a truly unforgettable festival – bringing thousands of people of all genders together to explore how to imagine and build an equal world. For more than 15 years, WOW - Women of the World has brought people together in cities across the world, from Sydney to Karachi and Rio, to have meaningful and open conversations. As always, we'll be discussing the most critical subjects of our time alongside moments of pure joy and celebration.

"To welcome Gisèle Pelicot and Tarana Burke to the stage, together for the first time, is an honour. Their extraordinary work exploring justice, courage and the impact of collective action is vital as we work together to shape the future of gender equality."

Alongside the headline event, festival Day Passes will be available each day featuring a packed schedule of talks, workshops, performances and more. Audiences will be able to explore topics including everything from trad wives, vibe coding, glass cliffs, pay, sex, tech, disability rights and access, consent, the future of work, young people’s activism and more, all under one roof as the festival encourages participants to look together at the world today. As part of the Day Pass programme, WOW 365, the organisation's new digital membership platform, will have its own dedicated stage for the first time, with specific programming to be announced. 

Elsewhere, and bringing together WOW’s other festivals, Shameless! and Boys and Men into WOW London for the first time, festival-goers can also choose to explore their themes. There will be dedicated talks from Shameless!, WOW’s festival exploring how to end sexual violence, and from Boys and Men, the organisation’s strand of work inviting men to join the fight for gender equality and exploring everything from men's caring responsibilities to tackling the manosphere. Day Pass programming and line-up will be announced in the coming months. 

Early Bird tickets for Gisèle Pelicot and Tarana Burke in Conversation go on general sale this Friday (following Southbank Centre and WOW 365 Member pre-sales), with 10% of tickets for Gisèle Pelicot and Tarana Burke priced at £10. A strictly limited number of discounted Early Bird Day Passes for Friday, Saturday and Sunday will also be released this week.

As a key part of planning every WOW Festival across the world, WOW Think Ins will take place prior to the 2027 festival. These are friendly events designed for anyone to have a chance to have a say on the WOW Festival programme. WOW London’s 2027 Think Ins take place on 9 September 2026 at The Book Elephant, 11 September 2026 at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, 18 September at Havas Village London, and 9 October 2026 at the Southbank Centre’s Sunley Pavilion. There will also be a virtual WOW Think In on 14 September 2026. 

Founded by Jude Kelly, WOW is a global alliance of 33 partners working together to drive an equal and inclusive future for women, girls and non-binary people. Since its inception in 2010, WOW has delivered 150 festivals and programmes, across 71 places and six continents, inspiring millions of participants to take action and make change. 

Attracting five million people worldwide to date, WOW has supported thousands of activists, brought previously taboo subjects into mainstream dialogue and acted as a catalyst for the launch and success of countless campaigns. WOW's unique methodology connects a diverse range of people and audiences to a multitude of stories and perspectives, both informing and galvanising them to make positive change, including through WOW 365, its new digital events platform offering people the WOW Festival feeling all year round. 

After attending a WOW event 64% take action and 84% of people feel a gender equal world is possible compared to just 58% who haven't attended. Upcoming 2026 festivals and events include WOW Cairns in Australia this September.  

WOW London 2027 is supported by The WOW Foundation’s Global Founding Partner Bloomberg. Tarana Burke's participation is made possible with support from All In.

ENDS 

For further information please contact:

Kate Hassell kate@breadandbutterpr.uk 

Chloe Heard chloe@breadandbutterpr.uk

LISTINGS 

WOW LONDON 2027 FESTIVAL 

5 - 7 March 2027, Southbank Centre 

Day passes available for Friday 5th July, Saturday 6 March and Sunday 7 March 2027

Early Bird £35 / Full price £45 (concessions available)

Tickets on sale: Southbank Centre Members 22 July / WOW 365 Members 23 July / General on sale 24 July

Many events will be BSL Interpreted and Live Captioned

6 March 2027

Royal Festival Hall

WOW: Gisèle Pelicot & Tarana Burke In Conversation 

Tickets from £10

Tickets on sale: SB Members 22 July / WOW 365 Members 23 July / General on sale 24 July

BSL Interpreted and Live Captioned

French to English simultaneous translation

WOW Think Ins

9 September 2026 at The Book Elephant

11 September 2026 at Soho Theatre Walthamstow

18 September at Havas Village London

9 October 2026 at the Southbank Centre’s Sunley Pavilion. 

Virtual WOW Think In on 14 September 2026. 

About The WOW Foundation 

The WOW Foundation was created by Jude Kelly CBE in 2018 to run the global movement that is WOW - Women of the World Festivals. The Festivals began in the UK in 2010, launched by Kelly at the Southbank Centre London, where she was Artistic Director, to celebrate women and girls, taking a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, raising awareness globally of the issues they face, and discussing solutions together. 

To date, WOW has reached six million people in 45 locations on six continents, in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA. 

Over the last 15 years the Festivals have developed a reputation as a space for world renowned artists, activists, thinkers and performers including Angela Davis, Malala Yousafzai, Annie Lennox, Patrick Stewart, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Salma Hayek, to come and participate, alongside thousands of women and girls who don’t have public profiles but are doing amazing things. WOW provides platforms for people of all kinds, changes attitudes, brings communities together and provides a unique space for people to work together towards gender equity in their own communities.

One example of the Festival’s impact came in 2015, with the founding of the Women’s Equality Party by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer. 

In 2018 Kelly left the Southbank Centre to run The WOW Foundation full time as a charity working to build, convene and sustain a global movement that believes a gender equal world is possible and desirable through festivals and empowering women and girls. The unique festival model creates numerous pathways for participants to take part in WOW projects, amplify their own causes, or start new initiatives which have a wide impact on communities. It is the biggest, most comprehensive and most significant festival dedicated to presenting work by women and promoting equity for women and girls. In 2025 WOW launched WOW 365, a major new online events platform giving people access WOW events all year-round.

WOW Festival was originally produced and presented by the Southbank Centre. 

The President of WOW - Women of the World is Her Majesty The Queen. 

About the Southbank Centre

The Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest multi-arts centre and engages the most diverse audiences of any performing arts organisation in the UK. Our biggest venue, the Royal Festival Hall (2,700 seats) is the lasting legacy of the 1951 Festival of Britain and the ambition and values of that project – that arts, ideas, innovation and culture can heal communities and should be available and accessible to everyone – are still our guiding principles today. The Southbank Centre is uniquely able to offer a wide-ranging, inclusive and world-class artistic programme spanning contemporary visual arts, music, dance, performance, literature, comedy and spoken word across the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, the Hayward Gallery and our free spaces. We are also home to the National Poetry Library, the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP), two resident organisations (Kinetika Bloco and Tomorrow’s Warriors) and six resident orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Orchestra).