Branko Ćopić

Branko Ćopić (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко Ћопић, pronounced [brǎːnkɔ t͡ɕɔ̂pit͡ɕ]; 1 January 1915 – 26 March 1984) was a Yugoslav writer. He wrote poetry, short stories, and novels, and became famous for his stories for children and young adults, often set during World War II in revolutionary Yugoslavia, written with characteristic humor in the form of ridicule, satire, and irony.

As a professional writer, Ćopić was very popular and was able to sell large numbers of copies. This allowed him to live solely from his writings, which was rare for novelists in Yugoslavia at the time. However, the quality of his writings brought him inclusion into primary school curricula, which meant that some of his stories found their way into textbooks, and some novels became compulsory reading.

In the early 1950s, he also wrote satirical stories, criticizing social and political anomalies and personalities from the country's political life of the time, for which he was considered a dissident and "heretic", and had to explain himself to the party hierarchy.