John von Düffel was born in Göttingen in 1966 and grew up in Londonderry, Ireland, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA, and various German cities. He studied philosophy, economics, and German language and literature in Stirling, Scotland, and Freiburg im Breisgau, where he received his doctorate in 1989 with a thesis on epistemology. He then worked as a theater critic.
Since 1991, he has worked as an author and dramaturge, first at the Theater der Altmark in Stendal (1991 to 1993), then at the Staatstheater Oldenburg (1993 to 1996), Theater Basel (1996 to 1998), Schauspiel Bonn (1998 to 2000), Thalia Theater Hamburg (2000 to 2009), and Deutsches Theater Berlin (2009 to 2023).
After guest and poetry professorships at several universities, he has been Professor of Dramatic Writing at the Berlin University of the Arts since 2014. In the fall of 2025, he took over as Intendant (general manager) of the ETA Hoffmann Theater in Bamberg.
In addition to plays and adaptations of other literary forms for the stage, John von Düffel has also published novels, essays, radio plays, and translations.