John Teton was born in Chicago, graduated from Harvard College, and studied filmmaking at New York University and at the San Francisco Art Institute.

His work in film includes directing the international award-winning animated short film B’raesheet, editorial work for feature films, and producing the cosmology film program Visions at T Minus Zero.

His fiction includes Upsurge, a novel related to Appearing Live at the Final Test. He directs the campaign for the International Food Security Treaty, a major human rights initiative that arose from notes for Upsurge. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children and live in Oregon.