Alexander Estis was born in 1986 into a Jewish family of artists in Moscow; he received training there at art schools and from Moscow artists. In 1996 he moved with his parents to Hamburg.
After completing his studies in German and Latin philology, he worked as a research assistant and lecturer for German language and literature at a number of universities. Since 2016 he has been living as a freelance author in Aarau.
Alexander Estis works mainly in short form literature (shortest prose, aphorism, glosses, scenic miniatures, epigrams and lyrical fragments). A particular feature of his work is the amalgamation of prosaic and metric form, satire and tragedy, essay and fiction as well as word and image. His texts are published in anthologies and magazines (including Sinn und Form, Lichtungen, Entwürfe) and as independent collections. In 2022 the prose collection »Fluchten«, his sixth book in edition mosaik was published. Alexander Estis writes columns, essays, glosses and reports for FAZ, NZZ, SZ, ZEIT and other newspapers. He also writes translations and philological articles.
Alexander Estis is a member of the Association of Swiss Authors, of PEN-Berlin, Exil-PEN and is on the board of Die Literarische Aarau. Readings of his texts take place in Germany, Switzerland and Austria; he lectures on literature and gives courses in literary writing. He has received numerous awards and grants for his texts; currently he is writer in residence in Dortmund.