After graduating high school, Tobias Hülswitt worked as a stonemason. He began studying at the Leipzig Institute of German Literature in 1997, and while there published the novel Saga, which earned him the Martha-Saalfeld-Förderpreis des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz. He also worked for a year as editor of the literary magazine Edit. He lives as a freelance writer in Berlin.

Hülswitt has taught at the UdK Berlin and was a guest professor at the Leipzig Institute of German Literature and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. He writes for newspapers and magazines and co-writes screenplays. He is co-founder of the Korsakow Instituts für Nonlineare Erzählkultur.