Blogs

Award-winning New Yorker Magazine cartoonist and author Liza Donnelly will open the 2018 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop on Thursday, April 5, replacing Craig Ferguson, who has a scheduling conflict.

The hilarious Rita Davenport, award-winning TV host, bestselling author, inspirational humorist and entrepreneur, has graciously stepped forward to serve as keynoter for the Friday, April 6, dinner.

Donnelly, the author/editor of 18 books, also serves as resident cartoonist for CBS News. Her latest book, Women on Men, was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Donnelly's drawings and writing can also be seen in The New York Times, Medium, Forbes, Politico and other major publications. She is the creator of a new digital visual reporting/editorial cartooning called live-drawing. She was the first cartoonist to be granted access on location to live draw the Academy Awards; she has also live drawn the Grammys, Tonys, the 2016 Democratic Convention and more. Her innovative approach to reporting and commenting on events has been covered by CBS News, NBC News, Ad Week, USA Today, Watch Magazine and People Magazine.

Davenport is the author of four bestselling books, including Making Time, Making Money and her newest hit, Funny Side Up, which was recently published by Success magazine. In all, her books have sold more than one million copies.

Viewed in more than 32 million homes on her television shows Success Strategies and Laugh Your Way to Success, Rita is a gifted messenger with the power to empower and entertain audiences worldwide. She is an internationally recognized expert in the principles of success, secrets of network marketing, time management methods, goal-setting techniques, creative thinking, and building self-esteem and confidence.

She has been featured in national publications ranging from Forbes and The Wall Street Journal to People and Success Magazine and has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, The Regis Philbin Show and Kathie Lee & Hoda, among countless other television and radio programs.

Having shared the stage with John Maxwell, Tony Robbins, Sir Richard Branson, Les Brown Daren Hardy (and Erma Bombeck), Rita was elected to the National Speakers Association's Hall of Fame. She received a Council of Peers Award and earned designation as a Certified Speaking Professional, distinctions held by only 3 percent of national speakers.

The University of Dayton's April 5-7 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop will attract University of Dayton students and more than 350 writers from around the country and beyond. Immensely popular, it sold out in less than five hours.

For more on the workshop, click here.