Grigorije "Grigor" Vitez (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Григорије『Григор』Витез; 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.
He was born to a Serb[2][3][4] family from north Dalmatia, which had previously used the surname Alavanja. One of his ancestors held the honorary title of knight (Serbo-Croatian: vitez), which became the family surname.[5]
He went to elementary school in Okučani and to a gymnasium in Nova Gradiška. As a high school student he started collection 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,[6] in charge for children's and youth edition. Vitez was also working for the Novo pokoljenje publishing company.[7] He edited thirteen publishing series for children and youth.[8]
He held a correspondence with Nobel Prize winning writer Boris Pasternak.[5] Vitez died at the age of 55 and was buried in his hometown.[10]
Prosvjeta published his selected works in 2011, marking 100 years of his birth.[5]
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.[5][11]
Grigor Vitez Award for literature written for children was established in 1967.[12] It is the oldest awards of its kind in modern-day Croatia.[13]
He was awarded the Yugoslav Order of Labour, Order of the Republic and Award of the city of Zagreb.[14]
^Зорица Турјачанин, Свежањ нових кључева. Студије и есеји из књижевности за дјецу, Бања Лука 1999, pp. 71.
^Ibrahim Kajan, Zavođenje Muslimana. (Budi svoj!), Zagreb 1992, pp. 66}-: Вјерујте ми да све донедавно нисам ни знао да су Григор Витез, Драго Кекановић или мој драги пријатељ, покојни Момчило Попадић — Срби!
^Kukić Rukavina, Ivana (2015). Nakladnički nizovi Grigora Viteza za djecu i mladež. Zagreb: University of Zagreb. p. 69.
^Kukić Rukavina, Ivana (2015). Nakladnički nizovi Grigora Viteza za djecu i mladež. Zagreb: University of Zagreb.
^Kukić Rukavina, Ivana (2015). Nakladnički nizovi Grigora Viteza za djecu i mladež. Zagreb: University of Zagreb. p. 206. No, usudio bih se staviti jednu primjedbu, smatrajući da je bolje da to ja učinim sada, nego drugi kasnije kad knjiga izađe. Primjećujem to bez straha da mi se predbaci nacionalna preosjetljivost, tim više što sam po narodnosti Srbin, a samo živim i rođen sam u Hrvatskoj. Kad god se radi o zajedničkim antologijama ili sličnim zajedničkim istupima, potrebno je još uvijek danas izbjeći eventualne prigovore o nesrazmjerima i nepravednostima prema ovoj ili onoj strani naše literature. Radi se o omjeru zastupljenosti srpske i hrvatske poezije. Činjenica je da je srpski dio književnosti bogatiji u dječjoj književnosti, ali omjer broja pjesama, čini mi se, i previše je na uštrb hrvatskih: od 66 pjesnika otprilike 24 pripadaju hrvatskom dijelu i to bi možda još išlo, ali ako se uzme broj pjesama, onda je razlika prevelika: na hrvatske otpada tek nešto preko jedne petine (65 pjesama od 303).
