John Flanagan

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-27

John Anthony Flanagan was born on May 22, 1944, in Sydney, Australia, and graduated from Waverley College. He spent about twenty years in advertising, working first as a media researcher and later as a copywriter, before moving into television, where he co-wrote the sitcom Hey Dad..! He turned to writing fiction full time in his fifties, and is best known for the eleven-book Ranger's Apprentice series and its companion series, The Early Years and The Royal Ranger, as well as the Brotherband Chronicles and the Storm Peak duology. He created the character of Will, a boy hero deliberately written as physically small, partly to encourage his own son, Michael, to read and build his confidence. Erak's Ransom won the Australian Publishers Association's Book of the Year for Older Children in 2008, and the Ranger's Apprentice series reached the New York Times children's series list. Flanagan died on February 7, 2026.