Grigor Vitez

Grigor Vitez (; 15 February 1911 – 23 November 1966) was a Yugoslav writer and translator. He is best remembered as the author of children's poetry and other forms of literature for children and youth.

Biography Grigor Vitez was born to a Serb family in the village of Kosovac near Okučani. In a 1969 book on children's writers, Vitez published how his father's family were named Alavanja and had come to Okučani from north Dalmatia. One of his ancestors held the honorary title of knight , which turned into the family surname. His mother's family was named Milosavljević and they are believed to have come to Slavonia from Bosnia or in the 17th-century great migration.

He went to elementary school in Okučani and to a gymnasium in Nova Gradiška. As a high school student he started collecting folk poetry of the area. Vitez went on to finish the state school for teachers.

In 1933, he joined the Communists and fought in the World War II as a member of the Yugoslav Partisans. After the World War II, he worked in the Ministry of Education and as editor for Mladost publishing house, in charge for children's and youth edition. Vitez was also working for the Novo pokoljenje publishing company. He edited thirteen publishing series for children and youth.

In 1956, when the publishing house Svjetlost from Sarajevo had him review a Borislav Pavić anthology of children's poetry they intended to publish, Vitez criticised him because, even though Serbian literature for children was de facto richer than Croatian, he should have included more poets from Croatia.

Vitez was a prolific translator, mostly from Russian.

Legacy

He was awarded the Yugoslav Order of Labour, Order of the Republic and Award of the City of Zagreb.

Grigor Vitez Award for literature written for children was established in 1967. It is the oldest awards of its kind in modern-day Croatia.

Most of the works by Serbian writers was removed from the textbooks and schools from Croatia during and after the Croatian War of Independence, but Vitez's works was continuously part of the school curriculum in Croatia.

Prosvjeta published his selected works in 2011, marking 100 years of his birth. as well as the local library in Gornji Bogićevci.

Works San boraca u zoru, Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb, 1948 Pjesme, Zora Državno izdavačko poduzeće Hrvatske, Zagreb, 1950 Naoružane ruže, Kultura, Zagreb, 1955 Vesele zamke, Mladost, Zagreb, 1955 Prepelica, Prosvjeta, Zagreb, 1956 Lirika o Slavoniji, urednik, Slavonija danas, Osijek, 1956 Povjerenje životu, Narodna prosvjeta, Sarajevo, 1957 Sto vukova, i druge pjesme za djecu, "Svjetlost", Sarajevo, 1957 Perzijske bajke, Mladost, Zagreb, 1958. Kad bi drveće hodalo, Mladost, Zagreb, 1959 Kao lišće i trava: pjesme, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1960 Maksimir, Mladost, Zagreb, 1960 Iza brda plava: izbor pjesama za djecu, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1961 Jednog jutra u gaju, editor, 1961 Hvatajte lopova, "Svjetlost", Sarajevo, 1964 Gdje priče rastu, Mladost, Zagreb, 1965. Zekina kuća, Mladost, Zagreb, 1965 Igra se nastavlja, posthumous, 1967 Pjesme četiri vjetra, editor, 1968 Nevidljive ptice, Mozaik knjiga, 2002