John Bowe has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, The American Prospect, PRI's This American Life, McSweeney's, and others. He is the co-editor of Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, and co-screenwriter of the film Basquiat.

In 2004, he received the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, the Sydney Hillman Award for journalists, writers, and public figures who pursue social justice and public policy for the common good, and the Richard J. Margolis Award, dedicated to journalism that combines social concern and humor.

He lives in Manhattan and Saipan, a U.S. Commonwealth island south of Japan.