Attila Bartis was born in 1968 in Târg Mures, Romania. In 1984 his family left Romania because of political repression and moved to Budapest, where Bartis studied photography, which he still successfully practices.

As a writer he gained attention in 1995 with his remarkable short novel A Séta, and three years later he published a collection of short stories entitled A kéklo pára. He gained international recognition with the novel A nyugalom, which was published in 2001 and has been translated into many languages, including Croatian (published by Fraktura). The novel was the basis for his theater play Anyám, Kleopátra which premiered at the National Theater in 2003, directed by Dezső Garas. The novel was also adapted into a movie of the same title and directed by Alföldi Róbert in 2008.

He has received a number of significant literary accolades, among which the Tibor Déry (1997), Sándor Márai (2002) and Attila József (2005) awards. In 2006 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary. In 2010 he received the Szép Ernő Award for the best play (Romlás) and his novel A vége received in 2016 the Libri Literary Audience Award. In 2018 he became the Laureate of the Hungarian Republic.