- BEST-SELLING AUTHOR
- AWARD-WINNING BROADCASTER
- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
- TED TALKER
- ZOOLOGIST
About
Lucy Cooke is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning documentary filmmaker and broadcaster, National Geographic explorer and TED talker with a Masters in zoology from Oxford university. Her latest book BITCH was named one of the 50 best books of 2022 by the Telegraph.
“Cooke demolishes much of what you probably learned about the sexes in biology class. This may be disconcerting, even confronting for those who feel comfortable in the warm embrace of Darwinian order. But it’s also exciting, and fascinating, and very well might change the way you see the world.” Science News
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Public speaking
Lucy is a much-loved public speaker and can tailor talks to a range of audiences on a variety of subjects: what it really means to be female, the complexity of sex and gender, the strange and sustainable life of the sloth or her adventures as a female explorer. In 2022 she spoke at the Royal Institution, Cambridge university, UCL, the Natural History Museum, The Smithsonian in Washington DC, Seattle Town Hall, Glastonbury music festival, JP Morgan HQ, Gartner HR conference at the O2 and dozens of literary festivals.
TED WOMEN
“Lucy is a rare combination of smarts, savvy, and good humour. She presents scientific knowledge in a way that engages, informs, and even entertains.” Pat Mitchell, Curator of TED Women
Books
BITCH - OUT NOW
Women aren’t the only victims of misogyny. For centuries female animals have been marginalised and misunderstood by the scientific patriarchy. In BITCH Lucy Cooke introduces the animals and scientists who are reinventing the female of the species. This critically acclaimed best-seller will change how you think about sex, sexual identity and sexuality in all animals, including us. One of the Telegraph’s top 50 books of 2022, BITCH was adapted into the BBC Radio 4 series Political Animals and is now on the syllabus at UCL, Princeton and other major international universities.
“A dazzling, funny and elegantly angry demolition of our preconceptions about female behaviour and sex in the animal kingdom” The Observer
Buy me UK
The truth about animals
This “sure-fire summer winner” (New York Times) is an uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world. Lucy takes us on a worldwide journey to meet everyone from a Colombian hippo castrator to a Chinese panda porn peddler, all to lay bare the secret-and often hilarious-habits of the animal kingdom.
Published in the UK under the title The Unexpected Truth About Animals it was shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Society Prize for Science 2018, has received rave reviews globally and is currently being translated into 18 languages.
“Endlessly fascinating” Bill Bryson
Buy me UK
A LITTLE BOOK OF SLOTH
Published in the UK as ‘The Power of Sloth’, this New York Times best-seller combines Lucy’s adorable sloth photos with the story of a sanctuary in Costa Rica that specialises in rescuing sloths.
This celebration of the world’s laziest animal, written for children (ages 5+) won the Keystone State Reading Book Award 2015.
A percentage of proceeds are donated to sloth conservation.
“Cooke writes with a firm sense of authority and a loving irreverence that lifts these pages far above most real-life animal books and should make the inevitable umpteenth readaloud easy to bear” Publishers Weekly
Buy me UK
LIFE IN THE SLOTH LANE: SLOW DOWN AND SMELL THE HIBISCUS
Combining Lucy’s famous sloth photography with facts about the strange lives of the world’s slowest mammal and words of wisdom about slowing down, Life in the Sloth Lane is a mindfulness book like no other. Gorgeous images of sloths paired with inspiration on the joy of living slow from a medley of gurus from Thich Naht Hahn to Bob Marley and Paulo Coehlo.
“The bar on animal cuteness gift books has now been raised to the highest treetops. This is the book everyone needs – we could all be bettered by being a bit more like a sloth.” The Wandering Bookseller
Buy me UK
SLOTHS MINI CALENDAR 2025
Ah, sloths. Those Mona Lisa expressions. Their quirky love for being upside down. And the kind of chill attitude we all wish we had at times. Here they are in candid photographs in all their adorableness, living their best life in sanctuaries in Costa Rica. Captured by the photographer and all-around sloth expert Lucy Cooke, they’re hanging in trees, lounging in hammocks and baskets, and cozying up n snuggly little piles. Plus fascinating facts: A sloth’s coat is a perfect host for algae-this turns them green and allows them to camouflage in the trees! Printed in China on responsibly sourced paper.
Buy me UK
TV & Radio
Lucy is an award-winning producer, director, writer and presenter. Her documentaries have featured on BBC, Animal Planet, PBS, Discovery, National Geographic and BBC Radio 4. Her far-reaching knowledge and quick wit have made her a natural for live television broadcasting and a regular guest on radio and TV panel and talk shows.
“An exciting new face for the channel, bringing a unique wit and insatiable curiosity to natural history programming. Lucy invites us all to think about the natural world in new and surprising ways you haven’t thought of before.”
Charlotte Moore, BBC director of content
Worked with
SLOTH APPRECIATION SOCIETY
If there is one animal Lucy is synonymous with, it is the sloth. Lucy’s been documenting the strange lives of the world’s slowest mammal for ten years and is recognised as a leading expert in their eccentric behaviour. Lucy’s TED talk on sloths was ‘one of the most memorable’ of TED Women 2018, her sloth photos have graced the cover of National Geographic magazines, her sloth virals have been watched by millions and featured on GMA, Ellen and Tonight with John Oliver, her sloth documentaries have won awards, her sloth books and calendars have become international best-sellers and raised money for sloth conservation.
Lucy founded the Sloth Appreciation Society to both protect the sloth and promote the truth about this much-maligned creature and its energy-saving lifestyle, which has much to teach humans about sustainable living.
