Since I introduced Pierre Coran (pseud. Eugene Delaisse) to my
anglophone readers with the collection Fables in a Modern Key (2014), my
translation of his Fables a l'air du temps, this whimsical octogenarian
celebrated throughout his native Belgium as a preeminent "children's
poet"-- though only, in truth, for the most precocious of children!--
has imperceptibly grown a year older and added to his already enviable
list of literary honors. I admiringly offer here these Fables of Town
and Country-- my version of his most recent collection, Fables des
villes et des champs--though quite confident that, by time the
manuscript goes to press, it will have been succeeded by several others,
and probably by another round of literary honors as well. Coran
continues to live in the rural town of Jurbise in the Walloon province
of Hainaut, with his actress wife Irene, always finding time for
enriching and inspiring travel-- and never without productive pen in
hand ... Norman R. Shapiro