Zmaj Children Games (Serbian: Змајеве дечије игре / Zmajeve dečije igre) is one of the biggest festivals for children in Serbia and the Novi Sad region. Named after Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, one of the most famous Serbian poets and writers of children's literature, the festival is held annually in June and December in Novi Sad, the capital of the Serbian province of Vojvodina.
The first festival was held in June 1958 under the name "Festival of literature for children, drama and puppet theatre" ("Фестивал дечије поезије, драме и луткарског позоришта"). Its organizer is Matica Srpska in Novi Sad. In 1969, the name was changed to Zmaj Children Games.
The main idea behind the festival is to gather writers, illustrators, critics, publishers, editors and readers of children's literature from Serbia and beyond. The Zmaj Children Games have their own publishing in the form of the magazine "Детињство" (Childhood) and hold a gathering of well respected children's literature authors in Zmaj Jovina Street 26.
Every June for a few days, children's plays, concerts, and shows gather children from Novi Sad and its surrounding region in Zmaj Jovina Street (the main street in Novi Sad's city centre).
Famous quotes containing the words children and/or games:
“In former times and in less complex societies, children could find their way into the adult world by watching workers and perhaps giving them a hand; by lingering at the general store long enough to chat with, and overhear conversations of, adults...; by sharing and participating in the tasks of family and community that were necessary to survival. They were in, and of, the adult world while yet sensing themselves apart as children.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“As long as lightly all their livelong sessions,
Like a yardful of schoolboys out at recess
Before their plays and games were organized,
They yelling mix tag, hide-and-seek, hopscotch,
And leapfrog in each other’s way all’s well.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)