Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño was born on 29 January 1913 in Tardelcuende, in the Province of Soria, Spain.
[1] His father Juan Antonio Gaya Tovar [es] was a noted professor, physician and politician in Spain, and his mother was Gregoria Nuño Ortega.
[3] During the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, he served in the Republican army and eventually reached the rank of Captain.
[2] He was married to poet and essayist Concha de Marco [es] in 1937 during the war.
[4] The Francoist Spain regime sentenced Gaya Nuño to prison for twenty years, and was granted parole on February 23, 1943.