Sharon Guynup

Environmental Journalist. Author. Photographer. Producer. Editor. Presenter
National Geographic Explorer. Public Policy Fellow
Co-founder, Big Cat Voices

For over two decades, Sharon's award-winning environmental coverage has had impact, with stories on wildlife, ecosystems and the threats that face both animals and humans, from pollution and climate change to wildlife trafficking and zoonotic disease. She also covers conservation efforts and solutions that successfully address these issues.

Her work has appeared in National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Harvard Revue, Smithsonian, Mongabay and other outlets. She's a photographer, produces short video, and has worked on TV and film projects as consulting producer, most recently, National Geographic Channel's TRAFFICKED series and Dethroned, an investigative documentary on international wildlife trafficking.

Sharon received National Geographic Society's 2024 Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling, a lifetime Service award from India's Sanctuary Nature Foundation, and a New Jersey State Council on the Arts grant in Nonfiction. She was

named a Changemaker by New York University in 2023. Her work has also garnered awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, New York City's Deadline Club and an Arlene Award for “an article that makes a difference” from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. She’s a National Geographic Explorer; lived in Turkey as a Fulbright Scholar; and was a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from 2016-2025, working at the intersection of environmental challenges and public policy solutions.

Her investigation into the infamous Tiger Temple, a Buddhist monastery and tiger tourism venue, exposed extensive black market wildlife trade; it prompted officials to shut it down and seize all 178 tigers. Sharon's two-year investigation into captive tigers in the United States with photographer Steve Winter exposed wildlife trafficking, fraud and criminal animal abuse. Their 30-page story in National Geographic helped pass a new law, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, ending the cub-petting tourist industry and banning private ownership in the U.S.

Sharon has co-authored three books with photographer Steve Winter: Big Cats, due out from National Geographic Book October 6th, Tigers Forever and The Ultimate Book of Big Cats. Sharon has contributed essays to "Photographers Against Wildlife Crime" and other volumes. She created and edited the "State of the Wild" book series for the Wildlife Conservation Society, and has edited for Scientific American and other publications. She currently works as contributing editor heading the Wildlife Desk at Mongabay.

Release: October 6th - Available for pre-order here

Praise for Big Cats: "Anyone who doubts that the big cats rank high among the great wonders on planet Earth should open this book. You need only inspect Steve Winter’s magnificent photographs, and ponder the stories that Sharon Guynup tells of them. You’ll be reminded, for instance, that a litter of lion cubs, or a snow leopard amid its high rocks, or a viable population of wild tigers in its remnant Indian habitat, with all their elemental but fragile power, are far more precious than all the distractions, vogues, and glittery idols of the modern world."
— DAVID QUAMMEN, author of Song of the Dodo and many other books

If I were a big cat, I would be down on my paws roaring excitement and purring my gratitude to the authors of this magnificent tribute to who I am, how I spend my days and nights, why my existence connects to yours and to all of life on Earth. This volume expresses with deepest empathy and ethereal images my wonder at why humans regard me with awe but so delight in killing my kind that soon I and all big cats everywhere soon may no longer exist. But it also celebrates human kindness and caring, evidence that knowing can lead to caring, and caring can restore what is nearly lost before time runs out for big cats and humankind to have an enduring future together.
— SYLVIA EARLE, legendary oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer at Large

Praise for Tigers Forever:

More than compelling, Tigers Forever is a monumental achievement in prose and images. The book is so riveting—nothing short of a hymn about the most endangered of all the big cats—that no reader could conceive of a world without them.

—TOM LOVEJOY, ecologist, Amazon expert and U.N. adviser

With eloquent text and photographs of unsurpassed beauty, Tigers Forever opens the eyes of the world to what is happening to the tiger, one of its greatest natural treasures.

—GEORGE SCHALLER, world-renowned field biologist and author

www.tigersforeverbook.com Order a copy

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This book will enthrall your children.

Find out how these powerful predators live, hunt, raise their cubs, and how they have adapted to their unique environments. Which cat has the strongest bite? What’s the difference between a cougar and a mountain lion? Why does a tiger have stripes? How do big cats’ hunting skills stack up against other top predators? The answers to all these questions and more await in this complete compendium. With exclusive National Geographic photographs and hair-raising behind-the-lens stories from Winter, this book takes you up close and personal with the coolest cats around.

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