Julian Tuwim

Hello! My name is Julian Tuwim, and I was a poet from Poland who absolutely loved words. I was born a long time ago, on September 9th, 1894, in a city called Łódź. Even when I was a little boy, I thought words were like magical toys. I loved how they sounded, how they could rhyme, and how I could build them into funny sentences and silly poems. Playing with words was my favorite game!

When I grew up, I knew I wanted to be a writer. Around 1918, I started a club with my poet friends. We called ourselves 'Skamander.' We wanted to write poems that were not stuffy or difficult, but full of life and fun for everyone to enjoy. My favorite thing to do was write for children. I wrote a very famous poem in 1938 called 'Lokomotywa,' which means 'The Locomotive.' It’s all about a big steam train getting ready for a journey. It goes huff, puff, chuff, chuff! I also wrote about an elephant with a very forgetful trunk and a radio station run by birds. I thought poems should make you giggle and see the world in a wonderful, new way.

My life wasn't always full of silly rhymes. In 1939, a big, sad war started, called World War II. It was no longer safe for me in my beloved Poland, so I had to go on a long journey. I lived in many different countries and missed my home very much. But even when I was far away, I kept writing. After the war ended, I was finally able to return home to Poland in 1946. I was so happy to be back where I belonged.

I lived to be 59 years old, and my heart was always full of poetry. Today, children all across Poland still read my poems. They laugh at my silly elephant, listen to the chattering birds on the radio, and chant along with the sounds of my big steam train. I am so happy that my words can still bring a little bit of magic and a great big smile to new friends, year after year.