AP Reporter Beth Harpaz, Author of "The Girls in the Van: Covering Hillary," Makes Her Pa. Public Speaking Debut Feb. 12, Delivering a 2 p.m. Talk, "Hillary Clinton, the Voters, and the Media: A Woman's Perspective," at the University of Pittsburgh

February 8, 2002

The New York Times calls "The Girls in the Van" "an entertaining, bouncy romp" and "an honest book"

PITTSBURGH--––Beth J. Harpaz—author of the critically acclaimed book "The Girls in the Van: Covering Hillary" [St. Martin's Press, 2001––will make her Pennsylvania public speaking debut Tuesday, Feb. 12, in Pittsburgh delivering a free 2 p.m. talk, "Hillary Clinton, the Voters, and the Media: A Woman's Perspective," in Room 501 of the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning.

"The Girls in the Van" details the lengthy and grueling 2000 New York State senatorial campaign of former First Lady Hillary Clinton from Harpaz's standpoint as a veteran Associated Press reporter and working mother of two small boys.

The New York Times Book Review recently published an enthusiastic article on "Girls in the Van," calling it "an entertaining, bouncy romp through the usual fun and games of running a campaign….It gives an illuminating glimpse at how the celebrity of Hillary Clinton kept the news media off base….Harpaz also gives a frank account of what it was like to be the mother of two children while following an energy-devouring campaign like this one." The article adds, "Harpaz has written an honest book."

Harpaz's 2 p.m. talk is sponsored by Pitt's Women's Studies Program. She will also make a public appearance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 1723 Murray Ave. For further information on her University of Pittsburgh talk, call 412/624-6485.

Harpaz is currently on leave from the New York City bureau of the Associated Press, which she joined in 1988 after having worked at The Record in New Jersey and the Staten Island Advance. She is now at work on her second book, "Finding Annie Farrell," the true story of five sisters from Maine, which is due to be published by St. Martin's Press in 2003. A graduate of Hunter College High School, Cornell University, and the Columbia University School of Journalism, Harpaz has covered everything from plane crashes to trials to politics and has won feature-writing awards from the Newswomen's Club of New York and the New York Press Club. Her AP coverage of the Clinton senatorial campaign was picked up by the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Inquirer, among other national newspapers. She lives in the New York metropolitan area with her husband and two children.

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