Elías Rovira Gil (born 1959, Albacete, La Mancha, Spain). Professor at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, doctor of Nursing. Vice-president and founder of the Association of the haiku people in Albacete (AGHA). Editor-in-chief of the haiku magazine Hojas en la Acera (Leaves on the Sidewalk) and member of the coordinating team of El Rincón del Haiku (The Haiku Corner). He has directed and organized international meetings and courses on haiku. Recipient of the Tsunenaga Hasekura Award for Best Haiku (2015) and the Elías Roldán prize at the Ateneo de Albacete for his book The Five Seasons. Coauthor of the Haikupedia article on haiku in Spain. Resides in Albacete.

The first translation of Japanese haiku into the Spanish language was thought to be in 1914 by the Mexican poet José Juan Tablada, who also was the first to publish a book of haiku, Un dia …, in 1919. The first original haiku by a Spaniard have been attributed to Antonio Machado a few years later. During the years of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco era (1936–1975) the development of haiku was suspended. Translations and studies of Japanese haiku began to reappear in the 1970s. Only after the year 2000 did haiku composition catch on in Spain, however, and the few Spanish journals and haiku organizations are all younger than 20 years.