Joachim Specht was born in Germany, in Weinböhla, in the district of Meissen. He was educated in Radebeul and Dresden. After the destruction of Dresden in World War II, Specht's family moved to Dessau. There Specht trained as a locksmith. He applied for entrance to university to study engineering, but his application was rejected. In 1947 he crossed illegally into West Germany. He worked as a welder in Hamburg, and in 1951 became unemployed. In 1952 he signed a two-year contract with South Australian Railways, departing Germany aboard the MS Nelly. From April 1952 he worked at Mile End (Adelaide), Orrorro, Peterborough and Cockburn. He joined the Australian Workers' Union. At the end of 1955 Specht returned to Hamburg, initially to find a wife. He moved back to East Germany, accepted GDR citizenship, married and, in about 1957, took over his family's locksmithing business.
In 1960 Specht participated in a 'Zirkel der schreibenden Arbeiter', run by author Werner Steinberg, in Dessau, and in 1963 his first collection of short stories, Peterborough Story, was published. In 1965 he was a member of the 'Arbeitsgemeinschaft junger Autoren im Bezirksverband Halle', and in 1968 became a member of the GDR Writers' Association. In 1972 the family business became a state-owned company, and Specht became a full-time writer. As well as publishing novels, prose and short stories, he co-authored with Werner Steinberg the GDR television series Hannes Scharf and Der Sheriff. In 1983 he was awarded the Wilhelm-Müller Prize in Dessau, and in 1990 the 'Stadtschreiber' prize, also in Dessau. In 1995 he retired, continuing to live in Dessau.
