Arif Alwan was born in 1941 on the road between Basra and Omara, where his father worked as a chauffeur for a Sheikh in the southern province of Iraq.

Alwan was involved in writing and publishing from an early age. After completing his high-school education in Baghdad, he worked for newspapers and magazines in Iraq. In 1972 he left Iraq for good to work as a freelance journalist and researcher.

He lived in Beirut throughout the civil war, then in Cairo, Yemen, Sudan, Morocco, Rome, and London. He finally settled in Leeds where he dedicated his life to writing.

Alwan was never directly involved in politics, yet, he was sentenced to death twice, because he published articles calling for the disarmament of Iraq.