Lado Kralj (27 March 1938 – 12 December 2022) was a Slovene writer, theatre critic and literary historian.

Kralj was born in Slovenj Gradec in northern Drava Banovina (today Slovenia) in 1938.

He attended postgraduate study at New York University (1970–1971) and co-founded an experimental theatre group upon his return to Ljubljana.

[5] In June 2023, his novel Ne bom se več drsal na bajerju (I Will No Longer Skate on the Pond) was awarded the Kresnik prize, the most prestigious prize for novels in Slovenia.

The novel takes place in Ljubljana during the Italian occupation in the early 1940s and in the post-war period in the 1950s.