Adam Czerniawski was born in Warsaw in 1934. Now lives in Wales. His publications in Polish include poetry, essays and short stories. His English publications include translations of poetry by Jan Kochanowski, Cyprian Norwid, Wisława Szymborska and Tadeusz Różewicz, his own memoir Scenes from a disturbed childhood and essays on poetry and philosophy.Iain Higgins was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of Writing East: ‘The Travels’ of Sir John Mandeville (University of Pennsylvania Press) and the forthcoming volume of poems, Then Again (Oolichan). He teaches medieval English literature and medieval studies at the University of Victoria, Canada.