Born on 10 January 1933 in the village of Ciche, near Brodnica; son of the master builder Bronisław Żelazny and Konstancja, née Dudalska. In 1948, he became a pupil at the Educational Grammar School in Grudziądz. That year, he wrote his first literary pieces, pubilshing excerpts of the short story Powiedz prawdę (Tell the truth) in "Mały Gryf", the Torun supplement of the newspaper "Głos Pomorza". He was a member of the Union of Polish Youth (ZMP). After completing advanced secondary education in 1952, he worked for a year as a teacher of Polish language, initially in Grudziądz and then in Słupsk. He subsequently completed military service in Wałcz in 1954/55, during which time he published short stories in "Żołnierz LWP", the newspaper of the Pomeranian Military District. In 1955, he started a degree in Polish philology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Torun. During this period, he was active in the Polish Students' Association (ZSP), chairing the University Council at UMK. In 1956/57, he was a member of the student literary group Helikon and served on the editorial board of the one-off publication "Helikon". He also contributed articles to the weekly "Pomorze" and column pieces for the university publication "Głos Uczelni". He abandoned his studies in 1959. He then worked as head bookkeeper at a state farm (PGR) in the Białogard district until 1960. He was then director of the Department of Culture at the Presidium of the District National Council in Człuchów (Koszalin region) until 1963 before moving to Sławno, where he was director of the District House of Culture and later of the District Advice Centre for Cultural and Educational Activities. He wrote several popular science studies on life in and the settlement of the former German territories of postwar Poland known as the Recovered Territories, focusing on the Człuchów district. From 1967 to 1970, he took a training course on working in the amateur theatre movement that was offered by the Central Centre for Teaching Methods (Centralny Ośrodek Metodyki) at the Ministry of Culture and Arts in Warsaw. He moved to Polanów (now in the Koszalin district) in 1970, where he was director of the Municipal House of Culture until 1990. For many years, he was a director in amateur theatres, developing scripts for poetic performances that won several prizes in national competitions and festivals. He also received numerous prizes in literary competitions for his prose works. He published column pieces, short stories, and excerpts of novels in the periodicals "Głos Pomorza" (intermittently from 1976-84 and 1988-91), "Profile Kultury" (1982-84), "Morze i Ziemia" (1983), "Pobrzeże" (1989), "Akcent" (1990), "Zbliżenia" (1991-92), and "Autograf" (1988 and 2005). In 1986, he joined the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP), collaborating with its Koszalin Branch. From 1990 to 1992, he taught Polish language at Polanów Primary School. Between 1992 and 1995, he collaborated with the daily newspaper "Głos Koszaliński" (using by-lines including JotŻet and Ziutek). In 1990, he joined Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (SdRP), the chief successor to the former ruling communist party, PZPR. He stood unsuccessfully as a Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) candidate for the Polish senate in the Koszalin voivodeship in the 1991 elections. From 1995 until retiring in 2000, he worked at the Municipal Administration in Polanów, initially as an inspector and then as director of the Education Finance and Administration Team. Between 1998 and 2007, he was editor and publisher of the local monthly "Echo Polanowskich Wzgórz" (using pseudonyms including Agata and Kuba z Karloty). During this period, he was also a member of the team publishing the Koszalin-based "Gazeta Ziemska" and collaborated with the local social and cultural monthly "Miesięcznik". He published in the national periodicals "Sycyna" (1996-98) and "Wiadomości Kulturalne" (1997), too. He authored some 100 short stories for erotic magazines, including the monthly "Seksrety" (using the pseudonym Tomasz Zabrocki) and in the periodical "Erotyka w Literaturze i w Życiu" (1993-95). Between 1999 and 2003, he was chair of the Koszalin Branch of the ZLP. He is the recipient of awards including Meritorious Activist of Culture (1975), Meritorious Activist for the Koszalin Voivodeship (1977), the Gold Cross of Merit (1985) and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2004). He married Alicja Gołębiowska in 1958; they have two daughters: Roksana (b. 1959) and Marzena (b. 1960). He lives in Polanów.