Molly Ivins, best-selling author and widely syndicated political columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is one of the nation’s wittiest and best-known political pundits. Her bestselling books include Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She; You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You; and Shrub:The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush. She has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist three times and has won numerous journalism awards, including a Headliner’s Award for best Texas column. She was named Outstanding Alumna by Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize jury. Her column appears in hundreds of newspapers nationwide.

Ivins was raised in Houston, earned her BA from Smith College, her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and studied for a year at the Institute of Political Science in Paris. She began her journalism career at the Complaint Department of the Houston Chronicle, then rapidly worked her way up to the position of Sewer Editor—from whence she wrote a number of gripping articles about street closings. She next went to work for the Minneapolis Tribune, first as a police reporter and later on a beat called “Movements for Social Change.”

In 1970, Ivins returned to Texas as co-editor of The Texas Observer, a publication devoted to the coverage of Texas political and social events. Her specialty was covering the Texas Legislature.

In 1976, she joined The New York Times as a political reporter, first at City Hall and then at the Statehouse in Albany. In 1977, The Times sent her to the Rocky Mountain Bureau and named her Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief, because there was no one else in the bureau. For three years, she covered nine mountain states by herself and was often tired. In 1982, she returned once more to Texas, which may indicate a masochistic streak, and has had plenty to write about ever since.

Her freelance work has appeared in Esquire, The Atlantic, The Nation, Harper’s, TV Guide, and numerous other publications. She also does occasional commentary for National Public Radio and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Ivins served for three years on the board of the National News Council and is active in Amnesty International’s Journalism Network, as well as the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press. She writes about press issues for the American Civil Liberties Union and several journalism reviews. She has received a number of journalism awards, and was named Outstanding Alumna by Columbia University’s School of Journalism in 1976. She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times, and received 1992’s Headliners Award for the best newspaper column in Texas.

Ivins has appeared as a weekly commentator on 60 Minutes, the perennially popular CBS newsmagazine. She is the author of the best-selling book, “Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?” a collection of essays on politics and journalism. Her second book, “Nothin’ But Good Times Ahead,” was published in 1993. She published her third book, “You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You: Politics In the Clinton Years,” in 1998 and her fourth entitled “Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush” in 2000.