Born in the village of Zielona, near Vilnius, Karpowicz lived there until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Karpowicz debuted as a journalist in 1941 under the pseudonym Tadeusz Lirmian for the Vilnius-based newspaper Prawda Wileńska. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania he was a member of the Polish Resistance. When the war came to an end in 1945, Karpowicz was resettled to Szczecin where he worked for Polish Radio. It was here Karpowicz published his first prose piece titled "Legendy pomorskie" "Pomeranian Legends").