Juan Mayorga

Juan Antonio Mayorga Ruano (born 1965, in Madrid) is a Spanish dramatist. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his 2004 play Himmelweg (Way to Heaven), which was brought to the London stage in June 2017 as part of the Festival of Spanish Theatre in London (Festelón). Mayorga was born on April 6, 1965, and grew up in the Madrid neighborhood of Chamberí. Mayorga studied as a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Spanish National Research Council under the direction of the philosopher Reyes Mate, before furthering his studies in Münster, Berlin and Paris. He received a PhD in Philosophy in 1997 from the National University of Distance Education.

Mayorga is married and has three children.

In 2013 he won the National Dramatic Literature Award of Spain, with his play La lengua en pedazos. On April 12, 2018, he was elected a member of the Language Academy to occupy chair "M," which had been vacant since the death of poet and linguist Carlos Bousoño on October 24, 2015. Philologist Dolores Corbella was also a candidate for that chair. Mayorga's candidacy was supported by academics Luis María Ansón, Luis Mateo Díez, and José Manuel Sánchez Ron.He won the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature.