Dylan Thuras
Co-Founder and Creative Director of Atlas Obscura
Conor Knighton
Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and New York Times-bestselling author
“When I set out to spend a year exploring 'America’s Best Idea,' I was worried the whole thing might be my worst idea. The national parks ended up changing my life.”
Photo courtesy of the author
Conor Knighton is a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, America's #1 Sunday morning news program. His debut nonfiction book, Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park was a New York Times bestseller, featuring a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our parks’ past and reflections on their fragile future. Knighton speaks at universities, lecture series, nature preserves and more, sharing the lessons he learned from his travels and celebrating the most beautiful places and most interesting people our country has to offer.
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About Conor Knighton
Emmy award winner, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, and New York Times-bestselling author Conor Knighton is best known for his acclaimed book Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park. Knighton is the creator and producer of two popular CBS Sunday Morning series: “On the Trail,” about America’s national parks, and “Island Hopping,” which highlights unique islands around the world. Through his work, Knighton takes readers and audiences on whirlwind tours, highlighting some of the unexpected stories, colorful characters, and profound lessons he unearthed during his travels.
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park was Knighton’s debut nonfiction book. Praised as “fascinating” (USA Today) and “engaging” (The New York Times Book Review), the New York Times bestseller was also named one of the best books of the year by Outside. In Leave Only Footprints, Knighton gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at his year traveling to each of America’s National Parks from Acadia to Zion, sharing informative and entertaining dispatches from what turned out to be the road trip of a lifetime. Along the way, he identifies the threads that tie these wildly different places together—and that tie us to nature—and reveals how his trip ended up changing his views on everything from God and love to politics and technology.
An avid speaker, Knighton inspires audiences across the country sharing witty, heartfelt stories of America, its National Parks and its people. Whether speaking at art museums, adventure expos, university convocations, or anything in between, Knighton connects deeply with audiences across generations.
Knighton earned his BA from Yale University. He won five Emmys as part of the CBS Sunday Morning team and has won a Los Angeles Area Emmy for his work on KCET’s SoCal Connected. He has been nominated for two additional Los Angeles Emmys, and his feature reporting has earned a National Headliner Award and an LA Press Club Award. Outside of his work on CBS Sunday Morning, Knighton’s commentary has been featured on CNN, HLN, TV Guide, MTV, E!, Oxygen, and KNBC. Born in Charleston, WV, Knighton now resides in Seattle, WA.
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Speaking Topics
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through the National Parks
When Conor Knighton set off to explore America’s “best idea,” he worried the whole thing could end up being his worst idea. A broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery, but the plan he’d cooked up might have gone a bit overboard in that department. Over the course of a single year, Conor set out to visit every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion. Filled with entertaining dispatches from some of the most scenic spots in the world, the CBS Sunday Morning correspondent takes us on a whirlwind tour through our parks, highlighting some of the unexpected stories, colorful characters, and profound lessons he unearthed along the way. Through his unique lens, America the Beautiful becomes America the Captivating, the Hilarious, and the Inspiring.
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Featured Title
Leave Only Footprints
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY OUTSIDE
From CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Conor Knighton, a behind-the-scenery look at his year traveling to each of America’s National Parks, discovering the most beautiful places and most interesting people our country has to offer
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