‘I like a little distance’: Best-selling author Kennedy Ryan shares the significance behind her pen name and why she keeps boundaries
TheGrio...
The acclaimed author has kept her government name a secret from fans as her career has taken off, but the meaning of her pen name has hit home for some of her biggest fans.
Kennedy Ryan has made thousands of readers across the country and the globe swoon and fall madly in love with her works. Whether it be the “Skyland” series that began with “Before I Let Go” or the recent addition to her Hollywood Renaissance series, “Score,” the North Carolina alumna has put love and all its complexities front and center in her work.
In a recent conversation with Jenna Bush Hager for the TODAY Show host’s “Open Book With Jenna Hager” podcast, Ryan revealed that not only does she use a pen name, but there’s significance to it.
“I was working when I got my first book deal and there was an HR department, and you had to take anything that you were doing outside of the company to them,” Ryan began around the 30-minute mark. “I was like, ‘Oh, I have a book deal,’ and they were like, ‘That’s great. You’re gonna have to write under a pseudonym. Like, whatever you’re writing can’t be associated with us.’”
However, there was also a personal connection to the two names that she joined to become synonymous with romance novels and book clubs across the country.
“I had always wanted a daughter, and we had my son, and then a lot happened, and I ended up not having another child. But I had always wanted to name her Kennedy Ryan,” the novelist said. “And so when they told me, ‘You have to come up with a name, you can’t write under your legal name,’ that was the name I chose.”
Even though her family calls her by her government name and her husband has been “practicing” using her pseudonym around the house ahead of any upcoming tour, she did admit there were perks to having a slightly secret identity.
“I like a little distance,” Ryan said. “I share my mental health. I’m very open about everything, but there’s parts of my life I like to kind of cordon off. I kind of like being able to retreat in that.”
The last few years have been a professional whirlwind for Ryan. In April, it was announced that “Before I Let Go” would be turned into a TV series, and one month later, her latest novel, “Score,” debuted on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Even with those personal highs, some longtime fans were shocked to discover that Ryan was operating under a pen name rather than her government name and at the same time, were protective of her after someone revealed her government name.
“Kennedy Ryan tells us in an interview she uses a pen name. We all go woah so cool and smile and laugh about it. Then because yall don’t have the common sense God seems to have forgotten to give you, yall go find and post her government????” one user on Threads wrote.
Another added, “After she very kindly and REPEATEDLY said she uses a pen name to maintain healthy boundaries and keep her family protected. People are really mf insane and stupid.”
The use of a pen name isn’t new in the literary world, but Ryan’s longtime supporters are ten toes down behind her, especially when it comes to her boundaries that she’s been vocal about.
“I think it may be a shocker to a lot of readers but….a lot of writers use pen names,” one Threads user wrote. “Some have multiple pen names. I don’t know why people feel like they owe us more than just the work. Read the books and leave the rest of their life alone.”