Born in the United Kingdom to Irish parents, he emigrated to Canada in 1957. Glavin has worked as a journalist and columnist for "The Daily Columbian" (reporter, columnist and assistant city editor), "The Vancouver Sun" (columnist), "The Globe and Mail" (columnist), "The Georgia Straight" (columnist), and "The Tyee" . He has been with the "Ottawa Citizen" since 2011. He has contributed articles to many newspapers and magazines, including "Canadian Geographic", "Vancouver Review", "Democratiya", "The National Post", "Seed", "Adbusters", and "Lettre International" (Berlin). He founded and was chief editor of Transmontanus Books, an imprint of New Star Books.