Patrick Süskind (born 26 March 1949) is a German writer and screenwriter, renowned for his novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, first published in 1985. From 1968 to 1974, he studied medieval and modern history in Munich and Aix-en-Provence. During the '80s, he worked as a screenwriter on projects like Kir Royal and Monaco Franze.

After spending the 1970s writing "short unpublished prose pieces and longer un-produced screenplays", he gained fame in the 1980s with the monodrama Der Kontrabass (The Double Bass, 1981), which became an instant success and a favorite of the German stage. In 1985, his status as a literary wunderkind was confirmed with the publication of Das Parfüm. Die Geschichte eines Mörders (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer), which topped European best-seller lists and sold millions of copies worldwide.