The future writer was born in Gruzdžiai, but he spent his childhood and early youth in the village of Katiliškės [lt], a few kilometers away, from which he took his later name.

Some of his experiences retreating from Lithuania to Germany were the basis for his biographical novel Išėjusiems negrįžti (No return for the departed).

In fear of being deported back to the Soviet Union, he changed his name to Marius Katiliškis.

[2] Katiliškis spent time in various displaced persons camps, studying art in Freiburg, a noted cultural center for displaced Lithuanians, where he met and was engaged to the poet Zinaida Nagytė [lt], who wrote under the pen name Liūnė Sutema.

[4] The writer built his own house on the outskirts of Lemont, Illinois, and lived there until his death in 1980 from complications of various illnesses (heart disease, cirrhosis, bladder cancer, and circulatory problems in the legs so severe that they both became gangrenous and required amputation.