His nursery rhymes have entered the Serbian national consciousness and people sing them to their children without knowing who wrote them.

Jovanović also translated the works of some of the great poets, such as Russians Lermontov and Pushkin, Germans Goethe and Heine, and the American Longfellow.

[a] Zmaj was born in Novi Sad, which was then part of Batsch-Bodrog County (Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire; today in Serbia), on 24 November 1833.

[2] Zmaj's father Pavle served as the mayor of Novi Sad after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and his three brothers were soldiers, government officials and Serbian patriots.

[2][4] In his early childhood he showed a desire to learn by heart the Serbian national songs that were recited to him.

A year later, his poetic instincts caused him to leave his job to devote himself entirely to literary work.

In 1870, Zmaj returned to Novi Sad to work as a doctor, motivated by the tuberculosis from which his wife and children were suffering.

[2] In 1861, Zmaj married; during the years that followed he produced a series of lyrical poems called Đulići, which probably remains his masterpiece.

Zmaj wrote a lot of articles on hygiene, health and diet, and several scientific works.

In 1864 he started the satirical journal "Zmaj" ("The Dragon"), which was so popular its name became a part of his own.

[5] Children's poetry written by Zmaj is still popular in Serbia and the wider Balkans region.