Hoban was born in Lansdale, just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of two Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. He was named after Russell Conwell.

After briefly attending Temple University, he enlisted in the Army at age 18 and served in the Philippines and Italy as a radio operator during World War II. During his military service, he married his first wife, Lillian Hoban (née Aberman), who later illustrated many of his books.

Hoban then worked as an illustrator (painting several covers for TIME, Sports Illustrated, and The Saturday Evening Post) and an advertising copywriter—occupations which several of his characters later shared—before writing and illustrating his first children's book, What Does It Do and How Does It Work.

"About the Artist" in the Macmillan Classics Edition of Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (second printing 1965), which Hoban illustrated, notes that he worked in advertising for Batten Barton Durstine & Osborn and that later he became the art director of J. Walter Thompson: "Heavy machinery later became subjects for his paintings, and this led him into the children's book field with the writing and illustrating of What Does It Do and How Does It Work? and The Atomic Submarine." That section on the artist points out also that at the time the book's illustrations were copyrighted, in 1964, Hoban was teaching drawing at the School of Visual Arts, in New York, collaborating with his first wife on their fifth children's book, and living in Connecticut.

He wrote exclusively for children for the next decade, and was best known for his series of short books starring Frances, a temperamental badger child, whose escapades were in part based on the experiences of his four children, Phoebe, Brom, Esmé, Julia, and their friends. The Mouse and His Child, a dark philosophical tale for older children, appeared in 1967 and was Hoban's first full-length novel.

In 1969, Hoban, his wife, and their children travelled to London, intending to stay only a short time. The marriage dissolved, and while the rest of the family returned to the United States, Hoban remained in London and has resided there ever since. In 1975 he remarried with Gundula Ahl, who worked in the fashionable London bookshop Truslove and Hanson. All of his adult novels except Riddley Walker, Pilgermann and Fremder are set in whole or part in contemporary London.

In 1971, Hoban wrote a book employing concepts borrowed from "The Gift of the Magi" called Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, which further reached fans through a 1977 special originally created for HBO by the Jim Henson Company. The book was illustrated by his then-wife, Lillian Hoban, whose drawn renditions of these characters were faithfully replicated by the Muppet creators. The story tells of a poor mother and son who do what they must to try to provide a special Christmas to one another, taking a route neither of them expected.

The 1985 film Turtle Diary was adapted by Harold Pinter from Hoban's novel Turtle Diary .

Hoban now lives with his second wife; they have three children, one of whom is the composer Wieland Hoban, to whom Riddley Walker is dedicated. Wieland has set one of his father's texts in his piece Night Roads (1998—99).

An annual fan activity dubbed the Slickman A4 Quotation Event (named after its founder, Diana Slickman, a member of experimental Chicago theatre troupe the Neo-Futurists) began in 2002, in which Hoban enthusiasts celebrate his birthday by writing down favourite quotes from his books (invariably on sheets of yellow A4 paper, a recurring Hoban motif) and leaving them in public places. By 2004, the event had occurred three times; as of February 2009 it has since taken place each year, seeing over 350 quotes distributed around 46 towns and cities throughout 14 countries .

In 2005 fans from across the world celebrated Hoban's work in London at the first international convention for the author, entitled The Russell Hoban Some-Poasyum (a pun on symposium from Riddley Walker). A booklet was published by the organisers to commemorate the event featuring tributes to Hoban from a variety of contributors including actor and politician Glenda Jackson, novelist David Mitchell, composer Harrison Birtwistle and screenwriter Andrew Davies.

In November 2007 Hoban's own stage adaptation of Riddley Walker was produced (for the third time) by the Red Kettle Theatre Company, in Waterford, Ireland, and was reviewed positively in the Irish Times. "Reviews". Irish Times, Irish Times Trust, 12 Nov. 2007. Web. (Fee-based article accessible to subscribers only with log in and password).

Hoban's most recent novel is My Tango with Barbara Strozzi, published November 2007.

Hoban is often described as a fantasy writer; only two of his novels, Turtle Diary and The Bat Tattoo, are entirely devoid of supernatural elements. However, the fantasy elements are usually presented as only moderately surprising developments in an otherwise realistic contemporary story, i.e. magic realism. Exceptions include Kleinzeit (a comic fantasy whose characters include Death, Hospital, and Underground), Riddley Walker (generally considered science fiction because of its futuristic though primitive setting), Pilgermann (a historical novel about the Crusades), and Fremder (a more recognisably science-fiction novel).

Many of his novels could also be considered romances, following the development of a relationship between two characters who often take turns as narrators, bonding over some common obsession or artistic interest.

There is frequent repetition of the same images and themes in different contexts: for instance, many of Hoban's works refer to lions, Orpheus, Eurydice, Persephone, Vermeer, severed heads, heart disease, flickering, Odilon Redon, and King Kong.

Adult novels

• The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz (1973), ISBN 0-8128-1624-2
• Kleinzeit (1974), ISBN 0-670-41458-1
• Turtle Diary (1975), ISBN 0-394-40199-9
• Riddley Walker (1980), ISBN 0-671-42147-6
• Pilgermann (1983), ISBN 0-671-45968-6
• The Medusa Frequency (1987), ISBN 0-87113-165-X
• Fremder (1996), ISBN 0-224-04370-6
• Mr. Rinyo-Clacton's Offer (1998), ISBN 0-224-05121-0
• Angelica's Grotto (1999), ISBN 0-7475-4611-8
• Amaryllis Night and Day (2001), ISBN 0-7475-5285-1
• The Bat Tattoo (2002), ISBN 0-7475-6022-6
• Her Name Was Lola (2003), ISBN 0-7475-7024-8
• Come Dance with Me (2005), ISBN 0-7475-7452-9
• Linger Awhile (2006), ISBN 0-7475-7984-9
• My Tango with Barbara Strozzi (2007), ISBN 0-7475-9028-6
• Angelica Lost and Found (2010), ISBN 978-1408806609

Selected children's books

• "Frances the Badger" series: Bedtime for Frances, Bread and Jam for Frances, etc. (1960—1970)
• The Mouse and His Child (1968, republished 1990), ISBN 0-06-022378-2 (also filmed)
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1971, republished 1992), ISBN 0-89966-951-4 (also televised)
• Egg Thoughts and Other Frances Songs (1972) (poetry), ISBN 0-06-022331-6
• How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsmen (1974), ISBN 0-224-00999-0
• A Near Thing for Captain Najork (1975), ISBN 0-224-01197-9
• La Corona and the Tin Frog (1979), ISBN 0-224-01397-1
• The Marzipan Pig (1986), ISBN 0-224-01687-3
• The Trokeville Way (1996), ISBN 0-224-04631-4
• The Last of the Wallendas (1997) (poetry), ISBN 0-340-66766-4

Other works

• The Carrier Frequency (1984) (stage play)
• Under the heading "Deadtime Stories for Big Folk": Deadsy and the Sexo-Chanjo and Door (1989, 1990) (text and narration for animated films by David Anderson)
• The Second Mrs Kong (1994) (libretto for opera composed by Harrison Birtwistle)
• The Moment under The Moment (1992) (stories, a libretto, essays and sketches)

Film

• Turtle Diary (1985)

Hoban, Russell. "Writers' Rooms: Russell Hoban". Guardian, Books (Writers' Rooms Series). Guardian Media Group, 2008. Web. 22 Mar. 2009.

Martin, Tim. "Russell Hoban: Odd, and Getting Odder". Independent on Sunday 22 Jan. 2006. Web. ("Russell Hoban should be putting his feet up, but his novels are as passionate and perplexing as ever. Tim Martin finds out what keeps the writer firing on all cylinders into his eighties, as he grants us a rare interview.")

McCalmont, Katie. Russell Hoban". untitledbooks.com. Untitled Books, 6 Nov. 2008. Web. 22 Mar. 2009. ("Russell Hoban talks to Katie McCalmont about his forthcoming novel and why at 83 years old he's proud of what he's done.")

Wroe, Nicholas. "Russell Hoban: Life at a Glance", in "Secrets of the Yellow Pages". Guardian. Guardian Media Group, 23 Nov. 2002. Web. 22 Mar. 2009. ("Russell Hoban, an illustrator and would-be artist, was decorated for bravery against the Nazis. After returning to New York he found success with stories for children. He then moved to England and achieved cult status with his novel Riddley Walker. Now 77, he aims to write a book each year.)