Arthur Gabriel Yak was born in Sudan. He is one of the few authors from South Sudan who writes fiction in Arabic, as opposed to English. He formerly worked as a journalist for Al-Masir, an Arabic-language South Sudanese newspaper. His novels and short stories are firmly rooted in the modern history of South Sudan, depicting the multicultural background of this young country which gained its independence in 2011, but also the political rivalries between the main ethnic groups of the South: the Dinka, Shilluk, and Nuer. By writing about these controversial issues he was forced to leave his country. After a stay in Egypt, he moved to the United States.