Wildfire signs rainforest campaigner Nenquimo's 'clarion call'

Wildfire has signed memoir We Will Not Be Saved, a “clarion call” to protect the rainforest and respect tribespeople by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson.

The deal for world rights was struck directly with the authors by Alex Clarke, publishing director. We Will Not Be Saved will be published in hardback, e-book and audiobook in July 2022.

Nenquimo was named last year as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, with Leonardo di Caprio introducing her to the magazine’s readers. She was heralded for her fearless work in protecting the rainforest and the lands of her people, the Waorani, and has also received the Goldman Prize and a prestigious United Nations environmental award.

In her book, Nenquimo partners with her husband, who is the founder of Amazon Frontlines, for a memoir that “digs into thousands of years of oral history, uproots centuries of conquest, hacks away at many of the prevailing racist notions the Western world has when it considers the lives of indigenous peoples, and ultimately reveals a life story as rich, as harsh, and as vital as the Amazon rainforest herself”.

Nenquimo, president of the Waorani of Pastaza Province, said: “I am writing this book because the fires will burn again. Because the corporations are spilling oil in our rivers. Because the miners are stealing gold. Because the land grabbers are cutting down our forest so that cattle can graze, plantations can be grown and the white man can eat. Because, as indigenous peoples, we are fighting to protect what we love – our way of life, our rivers, the animals, our forests, life on earth — and it’s time that the world listened to us!”

Clarke commented: “We Will Not Be Saved is a book which will open people’s eyes, all around the world – it’s high time that we listened to the voices of those people who are most affected by the desecration of the Earth’s most rich and diverse habitats. Nenquimo’s story is one of a warrior who has taken the fight to the industrialised world and let it be known ‘enough is enough’. Nenquimo and Anderson give us a unique and magical view of life in the rainforest, and the tribal culture and traditions that can teach us how to respect our planet. It’s a book that is desperately needed in so many ways.”

Anderson added: "Nenquimo’s story is a love story for her people and her forest and for life itself. Just like the Amazon rainforest, she overcomes centuries of violence, treachery and imposition, and continues to grow and flourish. Her message to the world is as sharp as the spears that her ancestors wielded — cut and carved by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries on the frontlines of the greatest tropical forest on Earth.”