Péter Esterházy was born in Budapest on April 14, 1950. He studied in the Piarist High School in Budapest and achieved his degree in a filed of mathematics from the Faculty of Science of Eötvös Loránd University. He was also significant as a writer and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages, his plays have been performed on stage, and several of his writings have been made into films. He was a member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Art and the Berlin Academy of Arts.

During his career, he received several national and international awards: in 1983 he received the Füst Milán Award, in 1984 the Tibor Déry Award, in 1986 the József Attila Award, and in 1996 the Kossuth Award. He was later awarded the Sándor Márai Prize, the Hungarian Literature Prize and the Herder Prize. He received the German Book Dealers' Peace Prize in 2004, the Prima Primissima Prize in 2006, and the Manes Sperber Literature Prize of the Austrian Ministry of Culture in 2014. Péter Esterházy, one of the most significant composers of contemporary Hungarian literature, passed away on July 14, 2016.