Born in 1956 in Milanówek, Poland, he studied Romance Languages and Literature at the University of Warsaw and has worked as a historian at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).

In 2012, he received the Nike Award for his collection of essays Książka twarzy (Book of Faces),[3] the title of which ironically alludes to the social networking service Facebook.

[6] He is also known as a translator of French-language literature, most notably the works of Milan Kundera (Immortality, Slowness, Identity, The Festival of Insignificance), Emil Cioran and Roland Barthes.

[7] His books have been translated into several languages including Bulgarian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

He has published articles on wine in such newspapers and magazines as Gazeta Wyborcza, Przekrój, Forbes, Magazyn Wino and Kuchnia.