Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for The Slap, which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and television.

Tsiolkas was born and raised in Melbourne with his Greek immigrant parents, and was educated at Blackburn High School. Tsiolkas completed his Arts Degree at the University of Melbourne in 1987.

He co-edited the student newspaper Farrago in 1987.

Tsiolkas' first novel, Loaded (1995), about an alienated gay youth in Melbourne, was adapted as the feature film Head On (1998) by director Ana Kokkinos, starring Alex Dimitriades.

His fourth novel, The Slap, was published in 2008, and won several awards as well as being longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. It was also highly successful commercially; it was the fourth-highest selling book by an Australian author in 2009.

Tsiolkas is gay and identifies as a self-proclaimed "wog." He is a Richmond Football Club supporter and of Greek heritage.