diff --git a/src/feedvalidator/validators.py b/src/feedvalidator/validators.py
index 60aad2f2..ffa8ea83 100644
--- a/src/feedvalidator/validators.py
+++ b/src/feedvalidator/validators.py
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ def prevalidate(self):
 #
 class addr_spec(text):
   domain_re = r'''(([0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.)|(([A-Z0-9\-]+\.)+))([A-Z0-9][-A-Z0-9]*)'''
-  email_re = re.compile("([A-Z0-9_\\-\\+\\.\']+)@" + domain_re + "$", re.I)
+  email_re = re.compile("([A-Z0-9_\\-\\+\\.\'\\!\\#\\$\\%\\&\\*\\/\\=\\?\\^_`\\{\\|\\}~]+)@" + domain_re + "$", re.I)
   simple_email_re = re.compile(r'^[\w._%+-]+@[A-Za-z][\w.-]+$')
   message = InvalidAddrSpec
   def validate(self, value=None):
diff --git a/testcases/rss20/element-channel-item-author/valid_email_addresses.xml b/testcases/rss20/element-channel-item-author/valid_email_addresses.xml
index 1cde8635..5718a6b6 100644
--- a/testcases/rss20/element-channel-item-author/valid_email_addresses.xml
+++ b/testcases/rss20/element-channel-item-author/valid_email_addresses.xml
@@ -12,5 +12,6 @@
 <channel>
  <item><author>user@example.com</author></item>
  <item><author>P.O'Neill@example.ie</author></item>
+ <item><author>~@example.ie</author></item>
 </channel>
 </rss>