Branislav Ćelap was born in 1922. His father Đorđe had founded a publishing bookshop, Ćelap and Popovac, after WW1, whose valuable editions can still be found in antique book stores. Đorđe managed the bookshop until he was arrested in 1941. The bookshop was confiscated and then nationalized after the war.
Branislav Ćelap attended the College for Foreign Trade in Vienna, won a law degree and joined Prosvjeta in 1947. He was appointed director of Prosvjeta in 1953 and managed its publishing activities since then. He is one of the organizers of the first international book fair held in Zagreb in 1956, which was later transferred to Belgrade. He played an important role in founding and expanding the most important literary event in this part of Europe.
Together with ĐuroPjevica, he was a co-chairman of the Serb Cultural Society (SKD) Prosvjeta’s temporary board, whose work resumed in 1993. He made financial contributions and donated a big part of his collection of books and magazines to Prosvjeta. Because of his merits Ćelap received the Golden Badge, a decoration Prosvjeta awards to its prominent members. He died in 2016 in Zagreb.