Maximilian Steinbeis was born in 1970 in Munich.
He studied law and worked as a freelance journalist for several newspapers such as Süddeutsche Zeitung. For five years he worked as a editor for politics at Handeslblatt Düsseldorf, and from 2004 to 2008 he reported from the parliament for Handelsblatt Berlin.
In 2003, his first novel Schwarzes Wasser was published by C. H. Beck. Maximilian Steinbeis lives in Berlin with wife and two children.