How I use poetry as a secret weapon for change

Unleashing the Power of Personal Truth: How Poetry Drives Global Change at Web Summit Vancouver 2026

Janne Robinson, Poet, Author, and Co-Founder of Writeway, captivated the audience at Web Summit Vancouver 2026 by presenting poetry as a potent “secret weapon for change.” She articulated her belief that an artist’s primary duty is to write with uninhibited honesty, as if their work will never be read, asserting that 50% of art’s impact resides with the audience, who interpret it through their personal experiences.

Ms. Robinson challenged conventional marketing wisdom, suggesting that to ignite global movements and foster change through poetry, creators must entirely disregard the audience and instead focus on expressing their deepest inner truths. She posited that by authentically sharing one’s personal narrative, an individual inadvertently articulates a universal story, resonating with many.

She offered compelling social proof for this philosophy, recounting the genesis of her viral poem, “This Is for the Women Who Don’t Give a Fuck.” Written in 2014 from a place of personal frustration with societal expectations for women, this raw and honest piece quickly gained traction, accumulating over two million reads.

The poem’s influence expanded further when Ms. Robinson adapted it into a short poetry film, which garnered half a million views. Women in New York City, responding to a social media call, participated in the film, selecting lines that deeply resonated with their own life experiences. In 2017, the poem became the title of her book, selling an impressive 30,000 copies, a remarkable feat given that only 1% of books typically sell more than 5,000 copies, particularly within the poetry genre.

Ms. Robinson observed that her personal expression of truth transformed into the voice of a broader movement, empowering women to embrace their authentic selves. She emphasized that poetry serves as a powerful mechanism to transmute individual pain and frustration into meaningful change, extending this transformative capacity to address collective global suffering.

To demonstrate this, Ms. Robinson invited the audience to participate in a brief writing exercise, prompting them to compose a poem about a moment that brought them “to their knees.” Before the exercise, she shared a deeply personal poem, illustrating her own vulnerability and the power of such expression.

Her poem detailed the courageous journey she undertook at 21 to meet her birth father for the first time in a remote village in southern Crete. She recounted asking him if he had received a baby photograph and letter from her mother, to which he confirmed, stating he felt like a father in that moment. She then confronted him about his absence, his explanation citing the birth of another child and the geographical distance to Canada.

Ms. Robinson articulated her profound anger and hurt, acknowledging how his absence had manifested in her life choices, particularly in relationships with unavailable men. Her father, recognizing his role in her pain, asked her to relinquish that hurt to him. He then knelt, begging for her forgiveness, symbolically taking her pain and affirming that she was always counted as one of his four children.

Concluding the session, Ms. Robinson encouraged attendees to reflect on the honesty of their writing. She reiterated that expressing one’s inner truth, free from the concern of an audience, is a straightforward yet profound method for personal healing and global transformation. She invited participants to continue their poetic journey using the “Write Like You’re on the Moon” poetry journal available through the Writeway app.