By Victoria Bø, Oslo, Norway.
(Translated by WS). Source
"My art is my scream" set the stage for the 2024 Woman Scream Festival, a grassroots movement that has been using literature and art for years to fight against violence towards women. In Norway, the Norwegian Author’s Union (Den norske Forfatterforening, DnF) has supported the festival in various ways.
September 18, 2024
How does a movement begin? Do we need official resolutions, public support, project plans, and milestone assessments? Maybe. Sometimes.
But often, an important movement begins with something much simpler—a scream, a yearning, a wish born in someone’s heart.
This is the story of the Woman Scream Festival, now a global phenomenon. Held annually in March, the festival’s mission is to amplify the voices of women, particularly those who face violence and oppression.
Since its launch in 2011, Woman Scream has reached 70 countries, with hundreds of volunteer coordinators organizing more than 1,400 events.
A Scream to the World
This year, DnF celebrates the 30th anniversary of its Freedom of Expression Award. In 2016, Jael Uribe, the driving force behind Woman Scream, received the prize for her dedication to freedom of expression. The award committee praised her focus on women’s rights and freedom of speech worldwide.
Uribe, a poet and author, sparked the movement by launching the first Woman Scream International Poetry and Arts Festival five years earlier.
Her scream, however, began long before that, in her writings—poems penned in her native Dominican Republic. From there, her words have reverberated across the globe, igniting a grassroots movement.
Woman Scream events are organized by local volunteers—both women and men—in countries worldwide. Though each festival follows a common theme, the format and content are shaped by the local organizers, giving each edition its own distinct flavor.
Some festivals last a single day, while others unfold throughout March, featuring multiple events across various locations.
Echoes of the Scream
Norway has hosted Woman Scream three times. The first event, organized by DnF at Oslo’s House of Literature ( in 2018, focused on the theme "Mothers." Norwegian female authors read from their works and participated in panel discussions on motherhood in literature and what it means to be a woman in Norway today.
In 2019 and 2020, Woman Scream moved to Lillehammer, in collaboration with the Literature Festival, supported by DnF and the Norwegian Writers’ Center.
Themes for these years included "I scream for myself" and "Who screams for you?" with the latter focusing on children and who gives voice to them.
Female poets and authors from Norway and across Scandinavia took part, offering a rich tapestry of perspectives.
As with festivals around the world, the Norwegian editions followed the global theme but were uniquely tailored to local contexts.
It was an honor to help organize these festivals and to witness the powerful echoes of a scream that spans the globe.
A Glimpse of the Festival
Every year, a new theme inspires Woman Scream events. The 2024 festival adopted the theme "My art is my scream."
More than 100 events were celebrated worldwide. The festival’s website showcases snapshots from countries like Brazil, where a woman dressed in white and wrapped in barbed wire embodies the theme’s stark reality.
In Serbia, however, the festival took on a more joyful tone, as young girls, alongside their mothers, transformed old jeans into new bags under the theme "Making old clothes into new beauty."
In many countries, the festival was celebrated online.
A screenshot from China shows dozens of small windows, forming a mosaic of faces—participants celebrating World Poetry Day by reading poems in a virtual event later posted on YouTube.
In Nigeria, an online reading festival allowed authors to share their works across genres.
Meanwhile, Toronto, Canada hosted its first Woman Scream this year.
The festival’s flexibility, allowing organizers to choose the format and approach, encourages more people to create their own versions.
A Growing Movement
By spotlighting Woman Scream through the Freedom of Expression Award in 2016 and supporting its events in Norway, DnF has fostered solidarity with writers and artists from countries with vastly different conditions for free expression.
In an interview, Jael Uribe spoke about the profound impact the award had on her:
"Winning the grant didn’t just change my housing situation—it saved my family from homelessness. It also gave me the resources to keep fighting for my cause."
And her cause is to bring together people who are willing to voice the silent screams of those suffering or unable to speak for themselves.
Over the years, the festival’s significance has grown. Today, an annual anthology of works related to the festival is published. Woman Scream is also part of the UN Women Generation Equality Project.
The festival continues to grow, with artists using their creative voices to scream against injustice and silent suffering, echoing across continents and countries.
This article was written by Victoria Bø, an author and former head of DnF’s International Committee. Bø was instrumental in organizing Woman Scream in Norway.
Interested in organizing a Woman Scream event in March 2025? Keep an eye on the festival’s website for the announcement of next year’s theme this fall.
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