Every River Has A Story

Please Share Your Story With Us

In honor of the March 14, 2013 International Day of Action for Rivers, we launched a project of gathering river stories to inspire, engage, and connect with one another. We want the story of you and your river told through prose, poetry or artwork, in an email or by mail. We would especially love to receive short videos or audio recordings of your stories. Our goal is to look for connections between the stories we receive, and to share them as widely as possible. So please know when submitting your story that we may redistribute all or part of it. By sharing our stories and weaving them together, we can paint a powerful image of the importance of the world’s rivers.

Click on the image of our 2013 map of actions and stories above to see the full version. During the 2013 Day of Action for Rivers we received 38 incredible river stories, and heard about more than 160 events taking place in at least 40 countries around the world. Send us your stories to add to the map!

What we mean by a story 
Thanks to advice from our friends at Wakingstar, we would like you to think of your story as a journey with a twist. Create the setup - using vivid sensory detail, such as the smell and feel and sounds of the river, that drop us into the scene; then tell us what happened or changed, and ultimately how things were different after that change. 

Storytelling ideas
All stories should include - who are you? What is the name and location of your river? Here are some ideas to help inspire your storytelling. Please use only what resonates with you most, and find ways to make other people relate to and care about what you are saying.

General river stories might just convey how you came to care about your river. Describe the sounds and smells and life of your river. You might focus on your first encounter with the river and what was it like, or describe your favorite river memory. Can you imagine what your life would be like without your river? 

If you are an activist or someone affected by a threat to your river, you might focus on why rivers are so important to you. Why does the river you fight for matter? What is critical for the world to know about your river? You could tell us what are you doing to protect, restore or defend your river. It would be great to learn about your connection to the movement to protect rivers and rights and the difference that connection makes.

We welcome stories in all languages. Please indicate the language of your story if it is not English. Preferred media formats include: full resolution .mp4 or .mov (not compressed for YouTube) for videos, and .aiff or .wav files for audio submissions. We ask that your audio and video files be under five minutes, if possible.

E-mail stories@internationalrivers.org with your questions or story submissions. Send stories by mail to River Stories c/o International Rivers, 2150 Allston Way, Suite 300, Berkeley, CA  94704-1378. You can also tell us about your stories on the International Day of Action for Rivers Facebook group. We look forward to hearing from you!