Audrey Ryan
WRITER
Audrey Ryan has a PhD in counseling psychology and is a writer based in Massachusetts and Maine. She is the author of DOWNEAST GOLDMINE, a forthcoming nonfiction narrative about fishing, drug smuggling, and her childhood on the Maine coast. She is also developing a limited-series podcast based on her taped interviews with fishermen and smugglers. Her 2023 Boston Globe Magazine cover story, The Big Catch, became the magazine’s most-read article of the year. She was recently interviewed by the acclaimed true crime podcast Criminal.
MUSICIAN
Audrey is also a singer-songwriter and runs a music series at DIY space the Loft in Somerville. Her band Lunch Mother is the house band at The Loft and perform when the spirit moves them. She has released several records over the years all posted on Bandcamp. More information is on The Loft and Music pages.
CRIMINAL podcast episode #336
Published 10.17.25
Audrey was interviewed by Phoebe Judge on true crime podcast Criminal.
Description:
When Audrey Ryan’s father told her he once found 20 pounds of hash while he was fishing for scallops, she didn’t believe him. But he said that he wasn’t the only one who had found drugs in the ocean.
DOWNEAST GOLDMINE
DOWNEAST GOLDMINE is a literary true crime memoir that uncovers a hidden chapter of American history—when the fishing fleet of coastal Maine was swept into an international drug smuggling ring, changing a region forever. When I learned my father, a scallop fisherman, had unknowingly hauled hashish from the ocean floor, it launched a years-long investigation into a buried scandal that shaped our community, our economy, and my family’s identity.
"Downeast Goldmine” couldn’t be more Maine. It’s a gripping thriller wrapped in a moving memoir and populated with the kinds of real-life characters—fishermen, hippies, and small-time dealers—that you’ll find nowhere other than here."
--Adam White, author of THE MIDCOAST
Interviewing a fisherman
The BIg CATCH
published in the Boston Globe Magazine
Lectures & Appearances
Audrey in front of the smugglers house in Cutler, ME
The Loft
The Loft is a rehearsal space in Somerville, MA where Audrey and a group of volunteers run a music series featuring touring and local artists. We also host fun events like the Holiday Fair, clothings swaps, Porchest, dance parties, etc.
This is a private space and you need to be on the mailing list for info and physical address. No we don’t rent it out. Here are the rules:
-21+ (we will card)
-BYOB
-50 person room capacity (our hallway area can host another 25-50)
-suggested donation $10-20, no cover
-no smoking in building
-no loitering outside building
Lunch Mother performing @the Loft
Music
WTF is Audrey’s newest record released in 2025. The songs tackles themes of identity and balancing motherhood with the rest of life.