Vasko Popa [Васко Попа] was born on June 29, 1922. He published his first poems in the newspapers ’Knjizevne novine’ (Literary Newsletter) and ’Borba’ (The Fight). His first collection of poems ’Kora’ (1953, Bark) along with ’87 Poems’ by Miodrag Pavlovic are deemed to be the beginning of the modern Serbian post-war poetry. This book inspired many discussions in the literary circles and had great influence on the later generations of poets.

After ’Kora’, Vasko Popa published the following collections of poems: ’Nepocin polje’ (1956, Field of No rest), ’Sporedno nebo (1968, Secondary Heaven) ’Uspravna zemlja’ (1972, Earth Erect), ‘Vucja so’ (1975, Wolf's Salt), ‘Kuca nasred druma’ (1975, Home in the Middle of the Road), ‘Zivo meso’ (1975, Raw Meat), ‘Rez’ (1981, The Cut), also collection of verse ‘Mala kutija’ (1984, Little Box), and part of the never finished collection of poems ‘Gvozdeni sad’ (Iron seed).

By combining oral folk tradition, games and riddles, Popa created a unique poetic language of the modern Serbian poetry. This is the reason why Popa is among the most translated Yugoslav poets. Also, he himself translated form the French language. On May 29, 1972 Vasko Popa founded The Literary Municipality Vršac and initiated a Library of Postcards, called ‘Slobodno lišće’ ( Free Leaves). In the same year, he was elected a member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts in Novi Sad (14, December 1979).

Vasko Popa died on 5 January, 1991 in Belgrade and was buried in the Aisle of the Deserving Citizens in Belgrade’s New Cemetery.