About

Teri Rizvi is the author of One Heart with Courage: Essays and Stories (Braughler Books, 2021). She is the founder and director of the nationally renowned Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop at the University of Dayton, where she serves as executive director of strategic communications.

She co-edited Laugh Out Loud: 40 Women Humorists Celebrate Then and Now … Before We Forget and Sisters! Bonded by Love and Laughter, a humor book celebrating the bond of sisters (and soul sisters), both published in conjunction with the workshop.

Her essays and feature stories have appeared in USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian and University of Dayton Magazine, among other print and online media. Her essay “As Screens Come Up, Walls Come Down” appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Tough Times Won’t Last But Tough People Will (2021), and her essay “Living in the Moment“ is part of the anthology Fast Fierce Women (Woodhall Press, 2022).

Praise for One Heart with Courage

“Life’s lessons lovingly taught.”

— Craig Wilson, retired USA Today columnist and author of It’s the Little Things: An Appreciation of Life’s Simple Pleasures

“Teri Rizvi’s essays are the exact balm and spirit-lift we need in these trying times. Her essays are full of truth, joy and inspiration — a ‘SWAT team of love’ — and a reminder that both our struggles and our connections matter.”

— Katrina Kittle, award-winning author of The Kindness of Strangers

“Through the lenses of an enlightened worldview and a resolute faith, Teri Rizvi’s richly insightful essays speak straight to the heart of a life — and times — eloquently examined.”

— Anna Lefler, author of Preschooled and The CHICKtionary

“One Heart with Courage chronicles Teri Rizvi’s meaningful life journey to find purpose in her work, community, marriage and family. Each one is a gem.”

— Matt Bombeck, screenwriter

“In her debut collection of essays, Teri Rizvi tackles the big subjects of life — motherhood, marriage, friendship, work/life balance and faith. In lyrical prose and honest reflection, she reminds us to slow down and savor the moments of our lives. I found wisdom and comfort in the pages of this treasure of a book as I traveled Rizvi’s life journey with her.” 

— Susan Pohlman, author of Halfway to Each Other and A Time to Seek