WTA member, and conference presenter, Dr Sarah Pye may be a writer, speaker and eco-tour guide, but that hasn’t always been the case.
After an unusual childhood sailing around the world with her adventurous parents, (and with both a tourism management degree and a boat captain’s licence under her arm), Sarah arrived on Hawaiian shores in the early 90s. She ran whale-watch tours there, before immigrating to Australia and creating a multi-award-winning company called Ocean Rafting in the Whitsunday Islands.
Sarah has tourism in her blood. When her marriage failed, she and her young daughter travelled around Queensland writing the guidebook Kids Welcome to Queensland which was published in 2009 and resulted in her being named Sunshine Coast Small Business Woman of the Year in 2010. She has been on the board of both Whitsunday Tourism and Visit Sunshine Coast, giving back to the industry she loves.
Little did Sarah know, a holiday in Borneo with her daughter in 2012 would change the trajectory her life. In the middle of the jungle, Sarah met Malaysian conservationist Wong Siew Te, founder and director of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. She was captivated by Wong’s commitment to saving a species and she asked what she could do to help.
‘Do what you do best,’ he replied.
Sarah’s last decade has been steered by her promise. In 2014, she led a team of university students to create a sun bear adoption program which was pivotal in helping Wong and his team make it through lockdowns. In 2016, she commenced her Doctor of Creative Arts Degree, exploring how narratives can be used to engage non-scientists in conservation, and the resulting biography, Saving Sun Bears, was published in 2020, the same year Sarah was awarded her doctorate.
Never one to rest on her laurels, Sarah realised the need to engage children in conservation, resulting in the Wildlife Wongseries of books for 8-12-year-olds. Each of these engaging six books focuses on a unique Bornean species and includes real-life adventure stories. The series was shortlisted for an Australian Educational Publishing Award in 2022, and Sarah has developed workshops around her books. She now spends endless enjoyable hours in schools putting the ‘Wow back in Wildlife’. She also runs a monthly online gathering called World of Wildlife where nature lovers around the world learn from each other. All WTA members are welcome. Simply sign up to Sarah’s newsletter at sarahrpye.com for notification of the next meeting.
Wildlife Wong and the Sun Bear: Award-Winning Finalist in the Children’s Non-Fiction category of the 2021 International Book Awards
Saving Sun Bears: Award-Winning Finalist in the Animals/Pets: Narrative Non-Fiction category of the 2021 International Book Awards
Email: sarah@sarahrpye.com
Phone: +61 429 9620
Web: sarahrpye.co
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I acknowledge the Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi people on whose land I live and work and pay my respects to elders past and present.
