[1] The son of Sae Sawatsi, a doctor in the Thai army medical corps, he was born in Tha Ruea District, Ayutthaya province.

At the end of World War II, his parents returned to Bangkok and he received his primary and secondary school education at Wat Don Muang.

In 1977, when a new military regime took power, he was removed from the post of editor after the journal was brought back to a purely academic orientation.

In 1989, he was co-founder of the literary group Samnak Chang Wannakam, which published a quarterly short story magazine Cho’ Karaket until 2000.

[2] The Thai Ministry of Culture honoured him as the national artist in 2011 and removed him from the post in 2021 after he criticized the government of General Prayut Chan-o-cha for its poor response to the COVID-19 pandemic.