Jo Lendle grew up in Göttingen. He studied literature, cultural studies and philosophy in Hildesheim and Montreal and was a graduate of the first year of the German Literature Institute in Leipzig. In 1996/1997 he edited the literary magazine Edit. From 1997, he was involved in setting up the DuMont literature programme as an editor for German-language literature. He has also taught as a visiting professor and lecturer at the universities of Munich, Leipzig, Hildesheim and the Swiss Literature Institute. In 2006, Lendle became programme director for German-language literature and in 2010 publishing director of DuMont Buchverlag. He has been publisher of Carl Hanser Verlag since the beginning of 2014. He is the editor of the literary magazine Akzente and a member of the board of trustees of the Literaturhaus München as well as the publishing committee of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels.