Duggan Flanakin

Duggan Flanakin (1944- ) began his writing career as a high school junior for the Springhill (Louisiana) Press, his hometown weekly. After graduating from Louisiana State University in 1965, Flanakin journeyed through the anti-war movement while working as a science editor for a federal agency.

The Vietnam war turned a Goldwater Republican into a member of Students for a Democratic Society and writer for the Washington Free Press. Years later, he edited a newspaper for Judeo-Christian Restoration Ministries and obtained a Master's in Public Policy from Regent University.

Upon returning to Louisiana, Flanakin spent five years back in Baton Rouge - writing for an environmental policy newsletter and also for the community newspaper Neighbors. Continuing his work as an environmental reporter, the great-great grandson of a Texas Colony founder moved first to Houston, then to Austin with his own newsletter.

In 2003, after losing his 22-year-old daughter to suicide, Flanakin began writing the Flanfire blog, reporting on the Austin music scene. Five years later, after losing his wife of 30 years to cancer, Flanakin immersed himself into a community of young adults desperately seeking their futures. His home became known as "Duggan's Dugout."

As old and young grew together, Flanakin wrote poems that reflected his own uncertain future and the joys of living in the present. A common theme is that there are immense profits to the soul and spirit (and sometimes the pocketbook) just from listening to the voices both of the spirit and of the human souls you encounter each day.

Of Infinite Galaxies, author and lifelong colleague Brian McLaren says: For years, I've known Duggan Flanakin as a friend and a gifted writer. I didn't know of his poetic talent until I read Infinite Galaxies. It's down-to-earth, from-the-heart poetry (and prose) that will touch you deeply and help you see yourself and others differently. - Brian D. McLaren, author/speaker/activist (brianmclaren.net)