John Harwood was born in Hobart and educated in Tasmania and at Cambridge University. He went on to become Head of the School of English and Drama at Flinders University in Adelaide before leaving to write full time. His novel The Ghost Writer, first published by Jonathan Cape in 2004, won the International Horror Guild's First Novel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Horror and Dark Fantasy. The S ance, a dark mystery set in Victorian England, won the Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel of 2008.