Born on 18 April 1940 in Krościenko nad Dunajcem into an intelligentsia family; daughter of the economist Karol Heski and Maria, née Gaudnik. In 1945, she moved with her family to Katowice where she attended the Maria Konopnicka Grammar School No. II between 1953 and 1957. After completing advanced secondary education in 1957, she studied Polish philology at the Higher School of Education (WSP) in Katowice. She was a member of the Polish Scouting Association (ZHP). During her studies, she was active in the pastoral care activities of the university as a scout leader. After graduating, she taught Polish literature at the Maria Konopnicka Grammar School between 1961 and 1962. From 1961 to 1965, she was an assistant at the Chair of the History of Polish Literature at Katowice WSP. She then worked at the Silesian Library in Katowice until 1971. Her research initially focused on literary questions relating to Silesia, such as the history of the press and the scouting movement, and the work of particular Silesian authors including Gustaw Morcinek and Kazimierz Gołba. She also explored the significance of mountains in Polish literature and children's and youth literature. She later conducted research on Old Polish literature. She made her debut in 1965 with the article O „Lompie” Kazimierza Gołby (On Kazimierz Gołba's "Lompa"), which was published in "Zeszyty Naukowe WSP w Katowicach" (no. 3), where she also published in subsequent years. In 1965, she also published a review of Anna Kamieńska's Pragnąca literatura (Literature of Desire) titled Raptularz przemyśleń i lektur (A Diary of Thoughts and Reading Materials), which appeared in "Poglądy" (no. 11; it was published under the name Krystyna Maria Heska). She continued to collaborate with this journal until 1982. She also published numerous articles and reviews in the periodical "Zaranie Śląskie" (1970-84). She defended her doctoral thesis, „Zaranie Śląskie” 1907-1939. Zarys monograficzny (Zaranie Śląskie 1907-1939: An Overview), in 1972 at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Silesia (UŚ). She was supervised by Prof. Jan Zaremba. In autumn that year she became an archivist at the Silesian branch of the Centre for Scientific and Technical Information at the Institute of Mathematical Machines (Instytut Maszyn Matematycznych) in Katowice. In 1974, she was appointed lecturer at the Chair of Old Polish and Enlightenment Literature at the Faculty of Philology at UŚ. She taught and lectured on Old Polish and contemporary literature, also drawing on children's and youth literature, while exploring reading and editing practices. In 1978, she was transferred to the Faculty of Library Science at UŚ. From 1979, she collaborated with "Kwartalnik Opolski". In 1981, she became one of the co-founders of the Social Committee for the Construction of a Memorial to the Memory of Heroic Silesian Scouts and Guides (Społeczny Komitet Budowy Pomnika Pamięci Bohaterskich Harcerek i Harcerzy Śląskich). From 1984, she worked at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology at UŚ. Between 1984 and 1992, she was scientific secretary at the Literary History Commission of the Katowice Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), while from 1993 to 1995 she was deputy chair of the Commission. She joined the editorial board of the yearbook "Watra" in 1988, which was published in Bielsko-Biała. She was awarded a habilitation degree in 1989 from the Faculty of Philology at UŚ for her study "Pisarski zakon”. Biografia literacka Gustawa Morcinka ("A Writer's Order: Gustaw Morcinek's literary biography). The same year she became scientific secretary of the programme council of the series Literatura dla dzieci imłodzieży (Children's and Youth Literature), issued by Katowice-based publishing house Śląsk. She also co-edited alongside Jan Malicki some volumes in the series Śląskie miscellanea. Literatura-folklor (Silesian Miscellanea: Literature-Folklore), which were published by the Literary History Commission's journal Prace Komisji Historycznoliterackiej Oddziału PAN w Katowicach . She became academic editor of the series in 2000. In 1992, she was appointed associate professor at UŚ and started collaborating with the journal "Guliwer", which specialized in children's literature. She published numerous articles and reviews in the journal, while in 2004 she became a member of its editorial board. Between 1993 and 1995, she was deputy chair of the editorial board of the series Spotkania z literaturą (Literary Encounters), published by the Katowice Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). She returned to work at the UŚ Faculty of Philology in 1994, where she was appointed head of the Department of the History of Books and Libraries at the Institute of Library Science and Information Studies. In 1994, she initiated the founding the Committee for Protecting the Memory of Silesian Uprising Soldiers and Scouts – the Defenders of Katowice in September 1939 (Komitet Ochrony Pamięci Powstańców i Harcerzy Śląskich – Obrońców Katowic we wrześniu 1939). The same year she also co-founded the Archbishop of Katowice's Lux ex Silesia Prize, serving on the chapter of the prize for its first term from 1994 to 1999. Between 1994 and 1999, she was a member of the Publishing Council (Rada Wydawnicza) of the Silesian Voivodeship. In 1995, she was made state-appointed professor, while in 1999 she was made full professor at UŚ. The same year she was appointed co-editor alongside Bogdam Zeler of the publication series Bibliotekoznawstwo i Informacja Naukowa (Library Science and Information Studies) and also became a member of the Polish Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). She started collaborating with the monthly "Śląsk" in 1996. She joined the Upper Silesian Literary Society (Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Literackie) in 2000, becoming a board member in 2006. She was head of the Department for Books and Writing for Young Readers at the Institute of Library Science and Information Studies at UŚ between 2003 and 2012. In 2007, she was appointed deputy chair of the Historical Commission of the Senate of the University of Silesia. In 2008, she joined the programme council of both the Centre for Children's Literature at the Łukasz Górnicki Municipal Public Library in Oświęcim and the yearbook "Z teorii i praktyki dydaktycznej języka polskiego", which specialized in the theory and practice of teaching Polish. She published articles in periodicals including "Wierchy". She retired in 2012. In 2016, she was appointed to the jury of the W. Goetl prize, which is awarded for the best doctoral thesis on the theme of mountains. It is organized by the Mountain Tourism Centre (Centralny Ośrodek Turystyki Górskiej) in Krakow. She has received many awards, including the Prize of the Minister of Education, the University of Silesia Rector's Prize on several occasions, the Karol Miarka Prize (1991), the Father A. Skowroński Prize (1993), the honorary W. Korfanty Prize (2008), the Lux et Silesia Prize (2017) and the University of Silesia's Pro Scientia et Arte Prize for outstanding academic achievements (2017). She was also made Honorary Professor of the University of Silesia in 2015. She was received the Gold Cross of Merit in 1993, the Guardian of Sites of National Memory Gold Medal in 1996, the Medal of the Commission of National Education in 1997, the Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture in 2007, and the Gold Decoration of Honour for Services to the Silesian Voivodeship. She married the engineer Wiesław Kwaśniewicz in 1996. She has three children, Maria, Krzysztofa and Jan. She lives in Katowice.