Yordan Yovkov was born on November 9th, 1880 in the north-eastern Bulgarian village of Zheravna (located in what is known as the Dobrudzha Region). After doing service at the then Retired Officers School, and studying Law at the Sofia University, he eventually got back to his native region of Dobrudzha as a teacher.
He participated in three wars altogether - the First and the Second Balkan Wars and the First World War.
He started publishing poems in 1902 and his first short story appeared in 1910.
He became one of the greatest BG masters of the short story. His books as well as individual short stories have been translated into more than 37 languages all over the world.
Yordan Yovkov died in Plovdiv, October 15th, 1937.