Woman Scream Festival 2017 Will Hold Events in 32 Countries

The Women Poets International Movement will hold their annual Woman Scream Festival in March 2017 with at least 32 countries participating so far. Woman Scream is an annual international poetry and arts festival begun in 2011 by The Women Poets International Movement in partnership with Grito de Mujer (Woman Scream). This year’s festival will be a month-long celebration in March with the motto, “A Scream of Freedom, to honor all the little girls of the world.” More information about the Women Poets International Movement and the Woman Scream Festival can be found at the Woman Scream website:

The Mujeres Poetas Internacional (MPI) Inc. or Women Poets International Movement MPI was founded in 2009 in the Dominican Republic by the poetess and publicist Jael Uribe, with the goal of promoting the poetess that take active part of this movement and that seek to make themselves known internationally through their participation in the different collective projects.

We seek to enhance the work of women in poetry and reclaim our rightful place in literature. We have created the Grito de Mujer or Woman Scream International poetry and arts festival, a non profit successful chain of events made by volunteers worldwide, celebrated throughout the month of March each year to honor women and their role in society though poetry and arts, while delivering non violence message against them, as a way to combine culture, and unite volunteers towards an honorable cause.

The Woman Scream Festival is completely free and open to all, with no entry fees, and seeks to combine arts and cultural entertainment such as music, dance, and poetry with social awareness. This year’s festival will bring attention to issues involving young girls around the world, such as early pregnancy, child abuse, and forced labor.

Australian publication Daily Life described how performance poetry can be a powerful method of bringing to light many of the human rights issues our world faces today, a message that’s becoming increasingly relevant in the face of Donald Trump’s recent Muslim ban and anti-abortion executive order. Daily Life highlighted last year’s Woman Scream festival as a significant opportunity for women’s voices around the world to be heard.

At just 28-years-old, feminist filmmaker, poet and human rights activist Saba Vasefi was exiled from her home country of Iran for campaigning against the death penalty.

Now a refugee in Australia, Saba has helped carve a space to celebrate and document women storytellers and their experiences. For the second year running, she is organising Woman Scream Festival, an international poetry and arts festival held last night, March 16, and sitting squarely and serendipitously between both International Women’s Day (March 8) and International Poetry Day (March 21).

Performing at Scream, poet Gabrielle Journey Jones says intersectional feminism underpins her poetry, as a way to challenge the layers of oppression facing women not only due to gender inequalities, but race, ethnicity, class, ability and sexual orientation.

Woman Scream 2017 will take place in over 200 cities across the globe with participating countries including: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, USA, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Chile, Cuba, Uruguay, Peru, El Salvador, Honduras, Portugal, Haiti, Greece, Morocco, Italy, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India, Macedonia, Luxembourg, and more.

https://www.facebook.com/WomanScreamFest/photos/a.299880560064737.86429.196640437055417/1407173272668788/?type=3&permPage=1

The festival allows women, men, and children to take part and help spread the cause, which is outlined on the festival’s website:

VISION: This movement aims to support female literary talent by developing collective projects to enable the participation of talented women poets of the country, as well as women poets, members and ambassadors who support us worldwide.

MISSION: To take advantage of digital media, print, among others, to praise the work of women in literature, specifically poetry work in addition to incurring the social mission that is the cause of non-violence against women through our Woman Scream International Poetry and Arts Festival campaigns and collective participation in projects for the cause.

PRINCIPLES AND VALUES TO BE PROMOTED: Teamwork, Solidarity. Altruism, Humility, Good Attitude, Responsibility, Honesty, Will, Discipline, Integrity, Gratitude, Ethic, Loyalty.

If you’re interested in participating in Woman Scream Festival 2017, follow the Facebook page and/or keep track of the participating cities and events on the official website.

[Featured Image by Fernando Podolski/iStock]