Bernd Nixdorf, born in Saarbrücken in 1961, completed a commercial apprenticeship before catching up on his A-levels at Saarlandkolleg. He broke off his studies in psychology and philosophy to work as a research assistant at the Social Psychology Research Centre, which was later renamed the "Centre for Europe and the Third World" and then "EFB - Development, Research, Consultancy". As part of this work, he spent several months in Sudan.

He worked independently in internet and graphic design and was briefly managing director of a tour operator. He has been employed at the Saarländisches Künstlerhaus Saarbrücken e. V. since 2013.

Nixdorf has worked as an editor for the "Saarbrücker Hefte" since 1993 and was on the board of the VS-Saar from 2017 to 2021. He received the Ludwig Harig Scholarship in 2022. His works include "Salli Palli Der erste Fall eines Saarbrücker Kommissars" (1993), "Das letzte Gefecht" (1999), "Salli Palli Zwei Fälle für Marcel Palli" (2016) and "Eine intime Vertraute" (2018).

Bernd Nixdorf’s texts have been published in numerous anthologies, magazines and art catalogues.