February 14, 2006 PBS Host Bonnie Erbe to Deliver Women's History Month Keynote Address on March 14

Bonnie Erbe, journalist and host of the PBS program “To the Contrary,” will deliver the 2006 Women’s History Month keynote address at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 14, in the Mumford Room, sixth floor of the Library’s James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

Bonnie Erbe holds a B.A. degree in English from Barnard College, a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law School. She is a member of the D.C. and New York bars.

As a lawyer with more than 16 years of experience as a journalist covering national government, she joined forces with PBS and Maryland Public Television in 1992 to create “To the Contrary,” the country’s first news analysis series featuring all women panelists. The show has received numerous awards, including the Clarion Award for Women in Communications for the Best TV Talk Show and the Gracie Award from the American Women in Radio and Television.

Erbe’s Scripps Howard newspaper column (also titled “To the Contrary”) is distributed weekly to more than 400 papers and has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Baltimore Sun, The Seattle Times and The San Francisco Examiner.

While she was a legal affairs correspondent for the Mutual/NBC Radio Network, Erbe reported on the Supreme Court and the Justice Department. She hosted “Saturday Night on Mutual,” a talk show carried by some 400 affiliated radio stations, reaching an audience of more than 1 million listeners.