Novelist, poet and literary critic John Harwood was born in 1946 in Hobart, Tasmania, to poet Gwen Harwood and linguist Frank William (Bill) Harwood. He married his first wife, Jeanie Deprose, in 1966. Harwood attended the University of Tasmania, as well as Cambridge University on a scholarship, then worked as Head of the School of English and Drama at Flinders University, Adelaide. He married his second wife, Robin F. Haines, in 1986. He left the post at Flinders University in 1997 to focus on writing. In 2005, Harwood's debut novel was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and won the International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel.