Józef Lemiesz-Wawrzynkiewicz was born in Bochum, Germany, of Polish parents. He gained his education in Bydgoszcz, Poland. In 1936 he began writing poetry seriously. In 1939 he joined the Polish army but became a prisoner-of-war in Lubeck, Germany, where his poetry was first published in the Polish underground's newsletter, Resistance. In 1945 he was released from prison camp.
In Australia Lemiesz-Wawrzynkiewicz worked for Australia Post until his retirement. He began writing seriously in 1942, moved by war events. In 1987 he was elected a Life Fellow of the International Biographical Association and he has also been a member of the Polish Art Foundation, the Polish Culture Circle, PEN International, the Victorian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Authors (FAW) and the Victorian Association of Multicultural Writers. In 1986 he established the Joseph Lemiesz-Wawrzynkiewicz Perpetual (Annual) Award for the most outstanding poetic work in Polish and English by children of Polish descent in Victoria. Lemiesz-Wawrzynkiewicz's poetry has been read on the Polish language program of Radio 3EA from 1978 and he has read in 1984 at RMIT, in 1986 at Chadstone High School and at meetings of the Victorian Multicultural Writers Association.
