John Flanagan

John Flanagan was an Australian author best known for creating the Ranger's Apprentice fantasy series, which grew out of short stories he wrote to encourage his own reluctant-reader son and went on to sell more than 20 million copies worldwide. Born in Sydney in 1944, he worked in advertising, television, and journalism before The Ruins of Gorlan (2004) launched the story of undersized apprentice Will Treaty and his gruff mentor Halt. He expanded the same world with the nine-book Brotherband Chronicles, following the Skandian seafarers who recur throughout the original series, and continued Will's story into adulthood with the seven-book Royal Ranger sub-series, in which Will trains his own apprentice, Princess Maddie. Flanagan also wrote a two-book prequel duology exploring Halt's youth, a short-lived adult crime series (Jesse Parker), and a standalone Civil War naval thriller, The Grey Raider -- a smaller but genuine adult-fiction side of his career alongside the YA fantasy work he was best known for. He died on 7 February 2026, at age 81, from complications of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, with Royal Ranger: Ambush at Sorato (2024) standing as his final published novel.