He attended high school in Brăila, where he made his journalistic debut in 1927, in Florile Dunării magazine.
Attracted by Bucharest, he dedicated himself to journalism, writing for Ion Vinea's Facla, George Călinescu's Lumea, Azi, Reporter and Revista Fundațiilor Regale.
He was an active participant in the city's coffee-house life, making puns and delivering memorably spirited soliloquies; his oral work was comparable to that of Păstorel Teodoreanu, Tudor Mușatescu and Șerban Cioculescu.
[2] Lemnaru's only book, the 1946 fantasy short story collection Omul și umbra, was quoted at the Sburătorul literary circle but did not arouse interest.
[1] Omul și umbra, which could not be published under the communist regime that eschewed its sort of fantasy, was reissued in 2000.