Juan Cruz (1948) is a Spanish author and journalist who worked from a very young age in local media such as La Tarde and El Día. He was one of the group of journalists who founded El País newspaper in 1976, and he has spent much of his career there, both as a foreign correspondent and as Head of Culture and Opinion, eventually becoming Deputy Editor. He began his writing career in 1972 with Crónica de la nada hecha pedazos, and has gone on to publish more than 20 works. Over the last few decades, he has won awards such as the Benito Pérez Armas, the Azorín and the Comillas de Biografía, and the 2012 National Journalism Award. He has just published Secreto y pasión de la literatura (2025), a ‘luminous and passionate’ portrait of great contemporary authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García-Márquez, Jorge Semprún and Jorge Luis Borges.