John Lent was born in 1948 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. Lent studied at the University of Alberta, where he was a student of Sheila Watson.

Starting in 1980, he taught creative writing and literature courses at the New Okanagan College in Vernon, British Columbia. Lent reads his work in many cities in Canada, the United States, France, and England. He is a founding member of the Kalamalka Press, the Kalamalka Institute for working writers, and the annual Mackie Lecture and Reading series at New Okanagan College. Lent is also a singer/songwriter and played in the roots/jazz trio Lent Fraser Wall.

His last book, So It Won't Go Away (2005, a sequel to his 1996 story sequence Monet's Garden), was shortlisted for the BC Book Prizes' 2006 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.

Lent lives in Vernon, British Columbia.

Recordings include:

• 2005: Shadow Moon (with the Lent/Fraser/Wall Trio)