Álex Grijelmo elected to seat 'o' at Spanish Royal Academy

Journalist and writer Álex Grijelmo has been elected by the Plenary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) to occupy the 'o' chair, vacant since the death of architect Antonio Fernández de Alba in May 2024. Grijelmo, born in Burgos in 1956, holds a PhD in Journalism from Complutense University of Madrid and completed the Senior Management Program at the Institute of Social and Economic Studies Business School. His candidacy was proposed by journalist and former El País director Juan Luis Cebrián, linguist José Antonio Pascual, and philologist Salvador Gutiérrez Ordóñez. Grijelmo began his career as an intern at La Voz de Castilla before being hired in 1982 by El País, where he later became deputy director and editor-in-chief. He has also served as president of the EFE news agency and has published numerous books on language and journalism. The election took place on Thursday, filling the seat left by Fernández de Alba, a Salamanca-born architect who passed away in 2024.