Atanas Vassilev Djavkov, known as Boris Aprilov, was born on 21 March 1921, in the small Bulgarian town of Malko Tarnovo.

His mother, Nanka, was an illiterate orphan from a peasant family, given at a very young age to a much older disabled veteran in an arranged marriage.

In 1945, Boris Aprilov married Shela (Rachel) Abraham Cohen, born in Burgas (12 June 1918 – 2 September 1996, Tel Aviv).

[citation needed] In 1947, Aprilov was invited by the poet Radoy Ralin to work as a columnist for the satiric journal Sturshel, and the family moved to Sofia.

It was said that "Nasko" had been working as a British spy from a young age, that he sang aloud famous hits from English and American movies, and that he chose to travel to London instead of Moscow.

As a result, he was blacklisted by the authorities, and as he was unable to find any employment as a journalist or editor, he lived exclusively off of his literary work.