Writer, journalist, and AUC Press author Jenny Jobbins, who lived and worked in Egypt and the Middle East for many years, passed away early last month.
“Jenny was multi-talented, caring, fiercely independent, and determined to experience everything life has to offer. She was witty and whimsical, with a tremendous capacity to laugh at herself and find humour in the unlikeliest places. . . Her sudden departure is unfathomable,” wrote Guy Jobbins in a heartwarming tribute to his mother, shared on his Facebook page.
An avid traveler, Jenny Jobbins lived in France, Switzerland, Iran, Egypt, Singapore, Germany, Yemen, Hong Kong and Canada. According to her son, she drove across Afghanistan in the 1960s, sailed a felucca down the Nile in the 1970s, and crossed Russia by train in the 1980. “She made friends everywhere she went,” he wrote.
Her achievements were many. She edited newspapers, painted, took photographs, and authored several books, including The Nile Cruise: An Illustrated Journey (AUC Press, 2010), The Red Sea Coast of Egypt, Sinai and the Mainland (AUC Press, 1993), and The Silent Desert I: Bahariya & Farafra Oases (2003) and The Silent Desert II: Siwa (2007). She also wrote a novel, The Emerald Tablet (2013), and co-authored Alexandria and the Egyptian Mediterranean: A Traveler’s Guide (AUC Press, 2nd edition, 2006), with Mary Megalli.
When not in Egypt she led a busy life in Cornwall, New York, and in New Brunswick, Canada, where she founded the Tay Creek Folk Festival in 2008, supporting local musicians in New Brunswick, bringing together hundreds of dedicated music fans every summer, and also promoting artistic efforts in the visual arts, fine crafts, and literature.
In an obituary for The East, a local online magazine, its editor-in-chief, Alex Cook, writes: “Meeting Jenny for the first time was a fascinating experience . . . Within the first few minutes of my first conversation with Jenny Jobbins, I became fairly convinced that this woman has never uttered an uninteresting sentence in her life.” He adds: “For many, she represented the heart and soul of the festival, a well-read bon vivant, and nothing short of a legend.”
AUC Press extends its deepest condolences to Jenny’s three sons and other members of her family.
