Martin Sonneborn was born in Göttingen on May 15th 1965. He attended a private Catholic school in Osnabrück, and – following a short stint as an apprentice in an insurance company – studied publishing, German literature and political science at Münster University. Already writing his master thesis on the monthly satire magazine "Titanic", he subsequently joined the publication in 1995, working as an editor and serving as chief editor from 2000 to 2005.

Following many, often spectacular publicity stunts by "Titanic" – for instance a brilliant hoax involving the bribing of FIFA officials in order to secure the hosting of the 2006 World Football Championship for Germany – Sonneborn and two other "Titanic" editiors founded the satirical party "Die PARTEI", which actually did run in local and federal elections in Germany and which states "the definitive division of Germany" as its main political goal. Sonneborn still serves as party leader and also remains a member of the "Titanic Boy Group", which regularly performs in public readings.

In October 2008, Sonneborn"s first feature film "Heimatkunde" opens in theatres: On time for the 18th anniversary of Germany"s reunification, the unconventional documentary shows Sonneborn roaming the countryside around Berlin, where he explores the different sensibilities of East- and West-Germans to hilarious effect.