Tuwim was born into a family of assimilated Jews. The surname comes from the Hebrew tovim ( טובים‎) meaning “good ones”. His parents, Izydor and Adela, provided Julian with a comfortable middle class upbringing. He was not a particularly diligent student and had to repeat the sixth grade. In 1905 the family had to flee from Łódź to Wrocław (Breslau) in order to escape possible repercussions following Izydor’s involvement in the Revolution of 1905.

In 1918 Tuwim co-founded the cabaret, “Picador”, and worked as a writer or artistic director with many other cabarets such as “Czarny kot” (Black Cat 1917–1919), “Quid pro Quo” (1919–1932), “Banda” The Gang and “Stara Banda” The Old Gang (1932–1935) and finally “Cyrulik Warszawski” (Barber of Warsaw 1935–1939). Since 1924 Tuwim was a staff writer at “Wiadomości Literackie” (Literary News) where he wrote a weekly column, “Camera Obscura”. He also wrote for the satirical magazine, “Szpilki” (Pins).

Tuwim displayed his caustic sense of humour and unyielding individuality in works such as “Poem in which the author politely but firmly implores the vast hosts of his brethren to kiss his arse.” Here, Tuwim systematically enumerates and caricatures various personalities of the European social scene of the mid-1930s — ‘perfumed café intellectuals’, ‘drab socialists’, ‘fascist jocks’, ‘Zionist doctors’, ‘repressed Catholics’ and so on, and ends every stanza by asking each to perform the action indicated in the title. The poem ends with a note to the would-be censor who would surely be tempted to expunge all mention of this piece for its breach of ‘public standards.’ His poem “Do prostego człowieka” (To the Common Man), first published on October 7, 1929 in “Robotnik” (Workman), provoked a storm of personal attacks on Tuwim, mostly from anti-Semitic right wing circles criticizing Tuwim’s pacifist views.

In 1939, at the beginning of World War II and the Nazi occupation of Poland, Tuwim emigrated through Romania first to France, and after France’s capitulation, to Brazil, by way of Portugal, and finally to the US, where he settled in 1942. In 1939-41 he collaborated with the émigré weekly “Wiadomosci Polskie”, but broke off the collaboration due to differences in views on the attitude towards the Soviet Union. In 1942-46 he worked with the monthly “Nowa Polska” published in London, and with leftist Polish-American newspapers. He was affiliated with the Polish section of the International Workers Organization from 1942. He was also a member of the Association of Writers From Poland (a member of the board in 1943).

During this time he wrote “Kwiaty Polskie” (Polish Flowers), an epic poem in which he remembers with nostalgia his early childhood in Łódź. In April 1944 he published a manifesto, entitled “My, Żydzi Polscy” (We, Polish Jews).

Tuwim returned to Poland after the war in 1946, but did not produce much in Stalinist Poland. He died in 1953 at the age of 59 in Zakopane. Although Tuwim was well known for serious poetry he also wrote satirical works and poetry for children, for example “Lokomotywa” (The Locomotive) (1938, tr. 1940) translated into many languages. He also wrote well-regarded translations of Pushkin and other Russian poets.