Jonnhy Vega

Jonnhy Vega (Gijón, Spain, 1976) is the author of the historical saga La Aeliada, which includes Un romano de Noega and Hijos de Roma, as well as the contemporary novel Verano del 90.

History, and the Roman world in particular, has been one of his main interests for as long as he can remember. That fascination eventually led to La Aeliada, a series set during the Romanization of northern Hispania and centred on a group of young people growing up as the world around them begins to change.

With Verano del 90, he moved much closer to home and to a more recent past: Gijón in the early 1990s, a group of teenagers, one summer, and all the things that can happen at an age when the holidays still seem as if they might last forever.

His novels may be set in very different periods, but the same themes often find their way into them: friendship, loyalty, rivalry, humour and the difficult step from childhood into adult life.

He has been involved in youth football and has worked with teenagers for more than thirty years, an experience that has naturally influenced many of his characters and the way he writes about young people.

He lives in Gijón, where he is president of the historical reenactment association Legio X Gemina Victrix. He takes part in Roman reenactment as the centurion Lucius Aelius Longus and also works with the city’s archaeological museums on historical outreach activities and educational workshops.

Above all, he writes about young people trying to find out who they are, whether they happen to be growing up in Roman Hispania or spending the summer of 1990 on a beach in Gijón.