[1][2][3][4][5] He was born in Pinsk, in Belarus (then within the Jewish pale of settlement within the Russian Empire), in 1884, the son of Leah and Ezriel Zelig Wolowski, a diligent merchant, owner of forests and sawmills, and a public figure.

[6] Karni combined journalistic writing, both in Hebrew and Yiddish, with his role as the secretary of the Zionist Center in Vilnius, Russia, during the years 1907–1908.

Karni often contributed to the Zionist magazine "HaOlam" and briefly worked for the editorial team of a publication in Odessa, where he stayed for a short time and became acquainted with the group of Hebrew writers centered around Bialik and his associates.

Among other contributions, he is considered a contributor to the renewal of the term "Kolnoa" (Cinema in Hebrew) in 1930 (for a brief period, talking films were referred to as Shma-Noa meaning, sound-motion pictures").

[9] In Tel Aviv, he was part of the local Bohemian scene of artists and poets including Avraham Shlonsky, Isaac Frenkel, Natan Alterman and others who frequented cafes.