WE WILL BE JAGUARS
THE BOOK
Books travel without their authors. They cross oceans and borders. They wait on bookstore and library shelves. They pass from hand to hand. They step into readers’ imaginations and hearts. They extend their reach through reviews, interviews, retellings and overheard conversations. Most of these journeys—some of which will be forgotten, some of which will change people’s lives—will never be revealed to a book’s author. And this, we believe, is part of the power and beauty of books.
This website is meant to be a kind of rest stop for those who choose to travel with our book. Here you will find more information about us, the book, our friends and compañeros and about the work we do to respect and protect the Amazon rainforest, indigenous autonomy and territorial defense.
We invite you to stop by now and again, share the book and the site with your friends, family and colleagues, and join us in our work.
THE AUTHORS
Nemonte Nenquimo
Nemonte Nenquimo is a Waorani woman, mother and climate leader, who has dedicated her life to the
defense of Indigenous ancestral territory and cultural survival in the Amazon rainforest. She is the
co-founder of the Indigenous-led nonprofit organization Ceibo Alliance and Amazon Frontlines. As the
first female president of the Waorani organization of Pastaza province, Nemonte led her people to a
historic legal victory against the Ecuadorian government, which protected over half a million acres of
primary rainforest in the Amazon from oil drilling and set a precedent for Indigenous rights across
the region. She is the winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize for Central and South America 2020 and was named a TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World in the same year.
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Mitch Anderson
Mitch Anderson is an environmental justice activist, human rights defender, writer, photographer, and
father. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Amazon Frontlines, a non-profit organization
based in the Upper Amazon, which defends Indigenous peoples' rights to land, life, and cultural
survival. For nearly two decades, he has worked and lived in Central and South America, fighting
alongside Indigenous peoples for clean water and the rights to their ancestral lands. In 2011, he
moved to Ecuador's northern Amazon to start a grassroots clean water project with Indigenous
communities living downriver from contaminating oil operations. Through building more than 1,000 water
systems in over 80 Indigenous villages, Mitch supported the founding of the Indigenous-led Ceibo
Alliance that won the prestigious UN Equator Prize and whose victories for the Amazon rainforest have
inspired millions worldwide.
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FEATURES
MEET THE PEOPLE And the place
LISTEN TO THE BOOK
A gift for you: Audio samples of the book read by the authors in Waorani and English.
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Nemonte Nenquimo
ENGLISH
Mitch Anderson
What people are saying
"Nemonte’s cause is all our cause."
"Truly soul-stirring, Nemonte’s book is a radical manifesto for our times."
"If you want to understand the climate crisis and do something about it, read this book."
"An act of story-telling generosity unlike any other."
"One of the most effective leaders for indigenous rights and environmental justice."
"Many are the memoirs that profess to tell untold stories, but here that claim is watertight."
"...a rarely seen, first-hand insight into a childhood spent in the Amazon rainforest and the extraordinary story of her fight to save it from the oil companies."
"This incredible memoir is one of the most spiritual and mind-broadening I have ever read."
""a profoundly generous offering. She shares precious joy and love, loss and struggle, and gives us much more than a book, but a living thing."
Join the movement to protect the Amazon and our global climate.