Yahyia Yakhluf was born in 1944 in the village of Samakh, bordering Lake Tiberias. In May 1948, when the city was shelled and fell to the Israelis, his family fled to Jordan. Samakh was demolished, & Israeli settlers occupied it.

Yakhl f joined the PLO in 1967 & obtained a BA in Arabic literature from the Beirut Arab university in 1971. For many years, he was the secretary-general of the Palestinian Writers Union, assistant secretary-general of the Arab Writers Union, and director general of the PLO’s cultural department. Since 1994, he has been deputy minister of culture in the Palestinian National Authority. He is a married father of three.