Riyad was born in 1956 in Amman and was unable to finish his University education because of financial difficulties. He has translated works by Eliot, Becket, Dylan Thomas and others into Arabic. He is co-director of a publishing house in Jordan, and has published a number of poetry collections. His works are considered to be among the most original of the young generation, combing the eloquence of classical poetry and the innovation of modernist Arabic poetry.