He graduated from elementary school in Kuršėnai in 1934 and completed a gymnasium course called Savišvieta (Self-study, likely a form of correspondence program) in 1941. From 1951 to 1956 he studied at the Moscow Maxim Gorky Literature Institute.
At the beginning of World World War II, he was evacuated into Russia. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1945. After the war, he worked on radio in Kaunas.
He was the head of the Kaunas branch of the Lithuanian Writers" Union.
He was the chief editor of the weekly newspaper of the Writers" Union Literatūra ir menas (Literature and Art, 1949–1959). From 1952 to 1954 he was the secretary of the Lithuanian Writers" Union.
In 1969–1986 he was editor in chief of the weekly newspaper Gimtasis kraštas (Native Land).
Foreign a collection of poems Prie baltojo Tadž (By the White Taj, 1962) about India he was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize (1968). He received the State Prize of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic for a collection of poems for children Šarkos švarkas (Magpie"s Jacket, 1975). In 1977 he won the Spring Poetry with Vėjo vynas (Wine of the Wind).
