Marie-Laure Ryan is a prominent literary scholar and critic. She has written several books and articles on narratology

Narratology

Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...

, fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

 and cyberculture

Cyberculture

Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...

, and has been awarded several times for her work.

In her latest book Avatars of Story she embraces a transmedial definition of narrative based on cognitive premises.

She is currently a Scholar in Residence at the University of Colorado.