After graduating from high school, Arswendo enrolled at the faculty of language and literature at a teacher's institute in Surakarta, but he did not complete his degree.

[1] During the 1970s, Arswendo wrote Keluarga Cemara, a popular tale of a small family living away from Jakarta, which was later became a franchise when adapted into a TV series and a film.

[1] The former was initially a newspaper, which Arswendo turned into a tabloid-format publication covering movies, television, and entertainment topics, with great success.

This particular placement resulted in criticism from Muslim leaders and figures (with the notable exception of Abdurrahman Wahid, who argued that Monitor had a right to publish).

[9][10] He was officially taken into police custody on 26 October 1990, though he noted in an interview that he was not imprisoned prior to his sentencing – except for one day during a media visit.

[6] During his time in prison, Arswendo continued to produce literary works, writing stories themed around absurdities and humorous anecdotes.

[9] Arswendo returned to literature and journalism after his release, first leading the previously struggling tabloid Bintang Indonesia for three years before founding his own media company Atmo Bismo Sangotrah in 1998.

[6] Arswendo died on 19 July 2019 at his home in Jakarta,[12] about three weeks after an announcement that he had been suffering from prostate cancer for several months.