Beth J. Harpaz

Beth J. Harpaz is an award-winning journalist who spent most of her career at The Associated Press, first as a reporter covering breaking news and politics in New York City, and later as AP travel editor and lifestyles writer. She also worked at the Staten Island Advance, the Bergen Record, the City University of New York and the Forward. She's a graduate of Hunter College High School, Cornell University and the Columbia Journalism School.

Harpaz has written three books: "The Girls in the Van," about covering Hillary Clinton's first campaign; "Finding Annie Farrell," a memoir about her mother's family in Maine; and "13 Is the New 18," a humor book about parenting at the dawn of the digital era. For AP, she also edited two travel anthologies: "Five Free Things" and "Get Outta Here!" Her latest work, for which she is seeking a producer, is a play, "Under the Great Wave," about a man coming to terms with his grandson and his grief during the pandemic.

Harpaz loves Maine and has been to all 50 states, but she is addicted to New York City, where she has lived her entire life.