Born in Tbilisi, Charkviani graduated from the Tbilisi State University in 1953. He had his first poems published in 1947. From the 1960s to the 1990s he was also an editor of several literary magazines. He was awarded, among other prizes, the Shota Rustaveli Prize (1984), Georgia's Order of Honor, and the title of Honorary Citizen of Tbilisi (1996).
