Isa Huseynov (Isa Mughanna) was born in 1928 in the village of Muganli in the Gazakh district. His father, Mustafa, was a schoolteacher. After finishing secondary school he enrolled at the N. Narimanov Medical University (1945) but returned to his village after four months. He later enrolled at the Faculty of Philology of Azerbaijan State University. In 1952 he graduated from the M. Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. He worked as an editor in the literature department of Azerneshr (1952–1954), as head of the prose department at the newspaper 'Literaturny Azerbaidzhan' (1960–1964), as editor-in-chief (1964–1968) and editor (1968–1974) at the Jafar Jabbarli 'Azerbaijanfilm' studio, as a member of the script council (1974–1979), and as editor-in-chief at the State Committee for Cinematography of the Azerbaijan SSR (1979).
