There are numerous streets and monuments all around Poland named after Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), perhaps the most important writer to ever lift a quill and write in the Polish language – according to Wikipedia, he was a “dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator, professor of Slavic literature, and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.” He was friends with Frederic Chopin and devoted his life to championing the cause of Polish independence (Poland was partitioned and erased from world maps by neighbouring empires between the 18th and 20th centuries). 

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    So when in the summer of 2019, I learnt that Adam Mickiewicz had written his own versions of Fables by the French author Jean de La Fontaine (in themselves based on ancient Greek fables by Aesop) – rhymed poems intended to entertain and educate readers both young and perhaps not so young... I knew this was the discovery I had been looking for all my life, as a tutor, a translator, a publisher and champion of reading and cultural exchange. 

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    Although Adam Mickiewicz's greatest plays and poems have been translated numerous times into numerous languages, these remarkable rhyming verse-form fables had not only never been translated into English – they are widely unknown to Polish readers around the world, most of whom have been raised on Mickiewicz's much more serious and challenging works. 

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    Having read these 12 lyrical treasures (some sample titles – Best Friends, Farmer and Viper, Hare and Frog, Voting Weasel),

 

    I instantly knew I had to translate and publish them in time for Christmas 2019 – for two very special reasons. 

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    Reason One is that the 24th of December is Adam Mickiewicz's birthday – and what a wonderful gift that would be, I thought to myself, to present them to the world on the very day of his birth. 

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    Reason Two is that our world, racing wildly into a technologically advanced age, really ought to keep in touch with its heritage and extract as much wisdom as it can from writers such as Aesop, La Fontaine and of course Mickiewicz.

 

   These perfectly rhymed and melodious poems, filled with colourful animal characters which represent various human archetypes, have not aged a bit since they were written 200 years ago – I knew I wanted the world to read and hear them as soon as possible, for the gifts they contain – gifts of learning and of evolving – are essential to our survival as a species. 

    And so, now that we have reached Christmas 2019, here we are: the BOOKS are ready for you all to enjoy!