Ecofem Tales

  Call for Submissions Ecofem Tales 2025 Anthology Theme: "Voices from the Earth" Are you a woman with a story that speaks to the Earth? Do you carry poems shaped by rivers, forests, storms, and seeds? We invite you to share your voice in the upcoming Ecofem Tales 2025 Anthology,   a collection of powerful environmental short stories and poetry from women across diverse geographies, especially those from marginalized and riverine communities. What We Are Looking For We welcome original short stories and poems that explore: Women’s relationships with land, water, and climate Ecofeminism and environmental justice Intergenerational wisdom and indigenous knowledge Nature as memory, mother, healer, or battleground Resistance, resilience, and renewal in the face of ecological crisis Submission Guidelines Genres: Short stories (fiction or creative nonfiction), Poetry Language: English or translated into English (original language must be noted) Wo...

  About the Summit The Ecofem Tales Summit is a transformative gathering dedicated to Riverine Rural Women; keepers of water, land, and climate knowledge. This summit amplifies their voices, highlights their struggles and solutions, and places them at the heart of the climate justice movement. Why It Matters Rural and riverine women face the harshest effects of climate change; floods, erosion, displacement, yet their stories often go unheard. This summit is about flipping that narrative. It's about listening, learning, and leading with them. What to Expect Storytelling Circles: Powerful narratives by riverine women on resilience, climate realities, and environmental guardianship. Workshops: Discussions on Indigenous wisdom, climate adaptation, and building sustainable livelihoods. Art & Culture: Celebrating ecofeminism through music, dance, and traditional riverine artistry. Who Should Attend Riverine and rural women leaders Environmental activists Feminist organizati...

In the face of ecological collapse and gendered injustice, one wonders how might storytelling help us reimagine resistance? We see this in legends of the past. We return to the soil, to Queen Nzinga, the 17th-century ruler of Ndongo and Matamba (present-day Angola), who defied Portuguese colonization with diplomacy, strategy, and unwavering courage. Nzinga was a political icon and a guardian of the land itself? In this imagined version of her legend, Nzinga sees the Earth and women suffering together; forests stripped bare, rivers poisoned and mothers walking miles for firewood. Recognising this pain, she plants a sacred ring of native trees and declares: “Only those who ask permission from the Earth may pass.” When invaders attempt to conquer the land, the trees rise. Roots entangle their weapons; winds push them back. The forest listens because Nzinga listened first. In her reign, women lead, rivers return, the soil breathes again. Nzinga's story is both historical ...

  In the heart of Kenya’s highlands, where the soil is rich and the trees once stood like sentinels of life, a woman planted trees and a quiet revolution. Wangari Maathai, the fierce and compassionate founder of the Green Belt Movement, was more than an environmentalist. She was a warrior for justice, a mother of trees, and the matriarch of African ecofeminism. Her life was interwoven with themes of resistance, renewal, and radical love for the Earth and its people, especially its women. At Ecofem Tales, we remember Maathai not just as the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but as a profound embodiment of what it means to stand at the intersection of ecological protection and gender liberation. Her story is not a relic of the past, it is a living call to environmental action. In the 1970s, Kenya was facing rampant deforestation, soil erosion, and a decline in water levels. All of these were consequences of colonial land mismanagement and post-independence devel...

  In the growing call for climate action, Vanessa Nakate stands as a bold voice from Uganda, one that echoes with conviction, urgency, and purpose. Her rise from solo climate strikes to global platforms is not just a story of environmental activism; it’s a call to center African voices and women’s leadership in the fight for a sustainable future. Vanessa Nakate’s journey began in 2019 when she was inspired by Greta Thunberg. But unlike many stories that follow global trends, Nakate chose to start a movement rooted in the unique realities of her homeland. She founded the Rise Up Movement, a platform to amplify African perspectives in climate conversations too often dominated by voices from the Global North. Her Green Schools Project reflects action, not just advocacy by installing solar panels and eco-stoves in Ugandan schools, she is promoting renewable energy, reducing deforestation, and transforming the way education and sustainability intersect. Vanessa doesn’t separate th...

At Ecofem Tales, we believe in storytelling as resistance, restoration, and re-imagination. On Tuesday, that vision came to life as our founder, Francisca Ogechi Okwulehie, presented her PhD research at the ETH4D Mentorship Practical Philosophy Internal Colloquium in Zurich. Left to right: Claire, Fanny, Professor. Nadia Mazouz, Francisca Okwulehie,Dr. Tea Lobo and Daniel Lucas all from the Professorship of Practical Philosophy ETH Zurich Her presentation, “Earth Healing in African Women’s Environmental Narratives: A Moral Pluralism Approach,” is a powerful contribution to African ecofeminist thought and climate justice. With philosophical clarity and deep cultural grounding, she centered the voices of Niger Delta women so often erased from environmental discourse as holders of ecological knowledge, spiritual resilience, and ethical insight. Francisca O. Okwulehie, Founder Ecofem Tales, wins ETH4D Doctoral Mentorship Program at ETH Zurich Her work is a call to remember that environment...