John Osmond was born in Abergavenny in 1946. He attended King Henry VIII Grammar School, before moving on to study for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Philosophy and Politics at the University of Bristol. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary MA by the University of Wales.

Upon leaving University, Osmond began working as a reporter for the Yorkshire Post. He returned to Wales in the 1970s to work for the Western Mail newspaper as a reporter and Welsh Affairs Correspondent. During the 1980s he worked for HTV Wales, helping launch the current affairs programme Wales this Week and producing a number of documentary series, including The Divided Kingdom for Channel 4. He was Deputy Editor for Wales on Sunday between 1988 and 1990.

In the 1990s Osmond formed his own television company, Agenda Productions, producing programmes for the BBC, HTV, Channel 4, S4C and STV.

In 1996 Osmond became the director of the Welsh think-tank, the Institute of Welsh Affairs, a position that he still holds. In May 2007 he stood for election for the Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency in the National Assembly for Wales Election, representing Plaid Cymru. However, Conservative candidate Paul Davies won the seat, defeating Tamsin Dunwoody, the Welsh Labour incumbent.

Osmond was the editor of a radical magazine, Wales Fortnightly, which was published between 1980 and 1982.

He currently holds a number of notable positions:

• Honorary Senior Research Fellow with the Constitution Unit, School of Public Policy, University College, London.
• Fellow of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.
• Member of Academi Literature Promotion Agency for Wales.
• Board Member of Pembrokeshire Darwin Centre for Biology and Medicine.
• Board Member of Cynnal Cymru: the Sustainable Development Forum for Wales.

Osmond has contributed to a number of books on Welsh politics, culture and devolution; the titles of which are given below.

• Crossing the Rubicon: Coalition Politics Welsh Style (IWA, 2007)
• Myths, Memories and Futures: The National Library and National Museum in the Story of Wales (Editor, IWA, 2007)
• Time to Deliver: The Third Term and Beyond (Editor, IWA, 2006)
• Welsh Politics Come of Ages (Editor, IWA, 2005)
• Birth of Welsh Democracy (Editor, IWA, 2003)
• Building a Civic Culture: Institutional Change, Policy Development and Political Dynamics in the National Assembly for Wales (co-Editor, 2002, IWA)
• The National Assembly Agenda (Editor, IWA, 1998)
• Welsh Europeans (Seren, 1995)
• The Reality of Dyslexia (Cassell, 1993)
• The Democratic Challenge (Gomer, 1992)
• The Divided Kingdom (Constable, 1988)
• The National Question Again - Welsh Political Identity in the 1980s (Editor, Gomer, 1985)
• Work in the Future (Thorsons, 1986)
• Police Conspiracy (Y Lolfa, 1984)
• Alternatives (Thorsons, 1983)
• Creative Conflict: The Politics of Welsh Devolution (Routledge, 1978)
• The Centralist Enemy (Christopher Davies, 1974)