Arliss Ryan

Who is Arliss Ryan?

Arliss Ryan is an American novelist and short story writer and essayist.

Ryan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English in 1971. For a time, Ryan worked at the United Nations as an administrative assistant before pursuing writing full-time. Ryan's first novel, The Kingsley House, weaves stories around her ancestral home and was published by St. Martin's Press in 2000. It was featured in a 2000 volume of Reader's Digest Select Editions. The original Kinglsey House still stands in Greenmead Historical Park in Livonia, Michigan. Ryan's second novel, the satirical How to Have a Perfect Wedding, was published by Sourcebooks in 2007 and was inspired by Ryan's experiences working on the event staff at the Astor's Beechwood Mansion.

Ryan's third novel, The Secret Confessions of Anne Shakespeare, is a work of historical fiction that takes romantic and creative liberties with the Shakespeare authorship question. In it, Ryan postulates William Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway is the true author of many of Shakespeare's plays. It was published by New American Library/Penguin Books in 2010.

Ryan currently resides in St. Augustine, FL with her husband, naval architect Eric Sponberg. They can be found giving ghost tours in tandem, for which Arliss writes the scripts.