She graduated from the Emilia Plater Girls' High School in Biała Podlaska. She also graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Warsaw. She was head of the reportage section in the weekly newspaper Literatura.[1] In 1981, after the imposition of martial law in Poland, she collaborated with the underground anti-communist press. In 1984, she moved to the United States where she worked for the Nowy Dziennik daily newspaper. In 1986, she returned to Poland. She is one of the co-founders of Gazeta Wyborcza.[2]
She made her literary debut in 1972, with the publication of Borowiki przy ternpajku, a book about the Polish diaspora in America. In 2008, she was nominated to the Angelus Award for her book Czarny ogród (The Black Garden).[3] Her book Wyspa klucz received a nomination to the Nike Award in 2010.[4] Her another work, Usypać góry. Historie z Polesia, was nominated to the Ryszard Kapuściński Award in 2015.