John Bodey's boyhood years were spent in Darwin, and his boarding school years in Charters Towers. His grandparents and mother were born at Bullgan near Cape Leveque, and among his ancestors are the Bardi and Watjalum peoples. He has lived in Derby and Kununurra and his working life has included truck driving and horticulture, mostly in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
In May 1997, John Bodey graduated with an Associate Diploma of Applied Science in Tropical Horticulture from Northern Territory University.
Since publishing When Darkness Falls, John Bodey has only been credited with one other work, a short prose piece that won a Northern Territory Literary Award in 2011.