Massimo Carlotto was born in Padua in 1956. Discovered by the writer and critic Grazia Cherchi, he made his debut in 1995 with the novel Il fuggiasco, published by Edizioni E/O and winner of the Premio del Giovedì 1996. For the same publishing house he wrote: Arrivederci amore, ciao (second place at the Grand Prix of Detective Literature in France 2003, finalist at the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the English version published by Europa Editions in 2006), The Truth of the Alligator, The Mystery of Mangiabarche, The Irregulars, No Courtesy at the Exit (Dessì Prize 1999 and special mention from the jury at the Scerbanenco Prize 1999), The Colombian Courier, The Master of Knots (Scerbanenco Prize 2003), Nothing, Nothing More in the World (Girulà Prize 2008), The Dark Immensity of Death, Northeast with Marco Videtta (Bancarella Selection Award 2006), The Land of My Soul (Grinzane Noir Award 2007), Christians of Allah, Perdas de Fogu with Mama Sabot (Jean-Claude Izzo Ecologist Noir Award 2009), The Bandit’s Love, At the End of a Boring Day, The World Owes Me Nothing, the fairy tale The Pepper Route with illustrations by Alessandro Sanna, The Lovers’ Band, For All the Gold in the World, Blues for Outlaw Hearts and Old Whores and The Tuesday Lady.
For Einaudi Stile Libero he published Respiro corto, Cocaina (with Gianrico Carofiglio and Giancarlo De Cataldo) and, with Marco Videtta, the four novels of the cycle Le Vendicatrici (Ksenia, Eva, Sara and Luz).
For Rizzoli he published Il Turista and Sbirre (with Giancarlo De Cataldo and Maurizio de Giovanni).
His books have been translated into many languages ​​and he has won numerous awards both in Italy and abroad.
Massimo Carlotto is also a playwright, screenwriter and collaborates with newspapers, magazines and musicians.