Vanessa Woods

Vanessa is an award winning journalist and author of Bonobo Handshake (Gotham 2010). She has written three children’s books; It’s True! There Are Bugs In Your Bed (2005), It’s True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti (2006), and It’s True! Pirates Ate Rats (2007). It’s True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti won the Acclaimed Book award from the Royal Society, UK.

Vanessa is an internationally published journalist and has written for various publications including the Discovery Channel, BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, and Travel Africa. In 2003, Vanessa won the Australasian Science award for journalism.

Vanessa is currently a Research Scientist at Duke University and studies the cognitive development chimpanzees and bonobos at sanctuaries in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vanessa is on the Board of Directors for Friends of Bonobos, the US charity that supports Lola ya Bonobo. Part of her author profits will go to Friends of Bonobos to help bonobos in Congo.