Judith Kuckart trained as a dancer at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and studied literature and theater studies in Cologne and Berlin; In 1983, she earned a master's degree. In 1984, she was an assistant at the Choreographic Theater Heidelberg. During her studies she wrote film and theater reviews for various newspapers in Berlin and Theater heute.

In 1984, after studying classical ballet and modern dance in Duesseldorf and Essen and after influential visits to Pina Bausch’s theater, she collaborated with four members of the ensemble in Berlin to choreograph her first dance piece, based on Christa Wolf's novel Cassandra. The young Compagnie took the name Skoronel and performed 17 works on various German and international stages until 1998. She worked with the company as a writer, dancer, choreographer and director.

It was not literature studies that inspired Kuckart to become a writer, but dance and theater. Kuckart gained renown as a writer in 1990 with her novel Wahl der Waffe. Other novels include Die schöne Frau, Der Bibliothekar, Lenas Liebe and the short stories Die Autorenwitwe. Kuckart also writes plays and radio plays and has been working as a freelance director since 1998.

Judith Kuckart is a member of PEN Center Germany. The author currently lives in Zurich and Berlin. In the winter semester 2010-2011, she was poet-in-residence at the University of Essen and held lectures on poetics.