Ljubivoje Rsumovic was born in Ljubis, on mountain Zlatibor, on July 3, 1939. He was educated in Ljubis, Cajetina, Uzice and Belgrade, where he graduated in 1965 from the Faculty of Philology, Department of Comparative Literature.
He started writing early, as a primary school pupil, in Ljubis. He published his first poems as a high school student, in 1957, first in Uzice’s newspaper “Vesti”, and then in “Knjizevne Novine”, the official journal of the Association of Serbian Writers.
In 1965, he got a job at Radio Belgrade, in the editorial office of children’s program. He successfully incorporated his literary work into the shows that he authored: “Tuesday Evening – You don’t say” (“Utorak vece – ma šta mi rece”), “Saturday at Two” (“Subotom u dva”) and “Happy Tuesday” (“Veseli utorak”). In these programs, he applies “documentary poetics”, which he adopted from Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj and Dusko Radovic, and the pedagogical doctrine of John Locke: “The sooner you treat a child as a man, the sooner he will begin to be one!”
In 1968, he was transferred to the Television Belgrade where he worked on the famous series: “Binoculars” (“Dvogled”), “A Thousand Whys” (“Hiljadu zasto”), “Let’s Grow” (“Hajde da rastemo”) and the popular show “Tips and Tricks” (“Fazoni i fore”), which has had 157 episodes so far. While he was working in television, he wrote, recorded and directed over six hundred shows. In addition to programs for children, he created several documentaries, such as the series “Diagonals – Stories of People and Characters” (“Dijagonale – price o ljudima i naravima”), in which he talks about certain ethnic groups, letting members of those groups characterize their fellow tribesmen themselves.
He has published more than 100 books, mostly for children, and his works have been translated into several foreign languages. Several of his works were performed in theaters.
His poem “Kids Are the World’s Pearls” (“Deca su ukras sveta”) (sung with the musical composition of Minja Subota) was declared the official children’s anthem in Serbia!
He is the winner of a large number of literary awards and recognitions in Serbia, the most important of which are the October Award of the City of Belgrade, “Neven”, the Branko Award, and the Vuk Award. He also received two notable international awards: “Puglia” in Bari, for his complete work for children, and the UNESCO award for “The Primer of Children’s Rights” (“Bukvar decjih prava”), at the world competition for a book that promotes peace and tolerance.
Along with his literary work, he also played sports. He is the founder, competitor, and the first president of the Karate Club “Red Star”. He was the president of the Karate Federation of Serbia, and he is a federal judge in karate sports.
From 1986 to 2002 he was a Director of the Bosko Buha Theater.
He is one of the founders and the first president of the Committee for the Protection of Children’s’ Rights, with the organization Friends of Children of Serbia.
He lives and works in the Free Territory, not far from Belgrade.