John Anthony Flanagan is an Australian fantasy author best known for his medieval fantasy series, the Ranger's Apprentice, and its sister series, the Brotherband Chronicles. Some of his other works include his Storm Peak duology, as well as the adult novel The Grey Raider.
Early life and careers
John Flanagan was born in Sydney, Australia on 22 May 1944. He graduated from Waverley College with plans to become a writer. As he grew up, he changed careers and got a job at an advertising agency. He originally planned to become a trainee copywriter, but the agency instead assigned him to train as a media researcher. While working as a media researcher trainee, he wrote an offensive poem directed toward one of his senior executives. Eventually the poem made it to the desk of one of the company's directors. Flanagan was called into the director's office where he complimented Flanagan's writing skills and offered him the job of trainee copywriter. After working in the advertisement agency for 20 years, Flanagan entered the TV industry and co-wrote a sitcom called Hey Dad..!.
Becoming a writer
Flanagan's early novels originated mainly as thrillers. He started working on what would become the Ranger's Apprentice series in the 1990s. The series originated as twenty short stories for his twelve-year-old son, Michael. Flanagan wanted to encourage his son to read and hoped that he could do so by convincing Michael that the stories were children's book ideas that his father wanted to test out. Also, since Michael was on the smaller side, Flanagan wanted to encourage him by showing that not all heroes must be big and strong. In fact, several characters in Flanagan's books are based on real-life people close to him. Will, the main character in the series, was initially based on Michael. Small, agile, and his love of climbing were all things that Michael and Will shared. Evanlyn, one of the other main characters, was loosely based on Flanagan's daughter Katie. Finally, Halt, Will's older teacher, was also based on Flanagan's sixth grade teacher. His son fell in love with the series and began asking for more of the stories. In the early 2000s, John decided to make the stories into the first novel, The Ruins of Gorlan, and it was published in 2004. 11 books comprise the main Ranger's Apprentice series. He has also written the series which explores the time before the first book, and has continued the story in the series. His other series in the same world, Brotherband, was based around Flanagan's passion and love of the sea
Achievements
In 2008, he won the Australian Publishers Association's Book of the Year for "Older Children and the International Success Award" for Erak's Ransom.
The series appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List and regularly get shortlisted for children's book awards in Australia and overseas.
The Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan became optioned as a movie.
Now sold to eighteen countries, the Ranger's Apprentice series has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List and is regularly shortlisted in children’s book awards in Australia and overseas.
