Donald Everett Axinn combines the best of two worlds: flying and writing. "My first experience flying was in a biplane with my father. The excitement, the rush, the romance - it was awesome. The attraction of flight, as I've written about in my poetry and novels, has never left me." Don's feet have barely touched the ground since that first childhood flight. He is the proud owner and pilot of a 1944 Boeing N253 Navy Stearman, an actual Bird Dog warplane complete with rockets, and a beautiful Cessna 182T Skylane.

Don Axinn has been called the quintessential 20th century renaissance man, and for good reason. He is pursuing three separate and distinct careers: he is a writer, a successful real estate developer, and has a lifelong commitment to public service. He is an avid pilot and sportsman (click to read more). The public continues to enjoy the fruits of his involvement with the Cradle of Aviation Museum. He helped to envision the eight exhibit galleries which are housed in the Donald Everett Axinn Air and Space Museum Hall.

Don is the author of eleven volumes of poetry. His articles and essays have been published in the New York Times, Newsday, and Antaeus, among others. He has written three novels, ALLAN, BURNING, The Ego Makers and Spin. His latest book of poems, Travel in My Borrowed Lives: New and Selected Poems, is selling well on Amazon.

Axinn has enjoyed the honor of reading his poetry before the U.S. Library of Congress, the United Nations, and in Russia. He was a Tennesee Williams Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and has conducted hundreds of lectures and workshops around the country. He is a former Dean at Hofstra University, and has received five honorary degrees.

Don's love of flying shines through in his writing. Even the titles suggest an affair with the air: Dawn Patrol, Against Gravity, The Hawk's Dream and Sliding down the Wind. As an office building developer, he never lost touch with the importance of preserving our natural resources. He serves as Trustee Emeritus for The Nature Conservancy, and his affinity for the great outdoors is also reflected in many of his poems and books. He is one of the founders of the Interfaith Nutrition Network, which provides food and shelter to the hungry and homeless on Long Island, New York. He was humbled and honored when the Long Island Association bestowed upon him the 2003 Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award. He also received, along with good friend Nelson DeMille, the Hofstra University President's Medal. He is a member of long-standing in several literary organizations, including the Academy of American Poets, Pen American Center, Poets & Writers and Poets House.

Thanks to SPIN, Hollywood has gotten into Don's blood. Collaborator James Redford has written a screenplay for Don's most recent novel, ALLAN, BURNING, and they are also working together with filmmaker Maro Chermayeff on a major documentary about the Ramapough Indians of New Jersey. HBO has picked up "Mann v. Ford", and it is slated for broadcast next year.

Don and his wife Joan have six children and seven grandchildren between them, and live in the nation's largest fly-in community, Spruce Creek in Florida, Long Island, and Vermont.

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