Peter Skrzynecki spent his early years in Poland before his parents emigrated to Australia. After living for a time in the migrant camp outside Parkes, New South Wales (NSW), the family moved to Sydney, where Skrzynecki grew up. He gained tertiary qualifications at Sydney Teachers' College and the University of New England before going on to work, initially as a primary school teacher in NSW. He has also worked as a lecturer in English at the University of Western Sydney, Macarthur.

In 197, Skrzynecki was writer-in-residence at Sydney Teachers' College. He has won several awards, including the 1982 Henry Lawson Short Story Competition. Skrzynecki spent some months in Poland in 1989 as part of a cultural exchange programme, and in 1990 he was awarded the L'Ordre du Merite Culturel at the Polish Consulate in Sydney, in recognition of his work in promoting an awareness of Polish Art and Literature in Australia. Skrzynecki's anthology, Joseph's Coat, was set as a text for NSW Higher School Certificate students in 1991. Some of Skrzynecki's poems have been set to music.

In 2006 Skrzynecki was an adjunct associate professor in the School of Humanities at the University of Western Sydney.