Linda Dini Jenkins

Linda Dini Jenkins is a published poet, playwright and creative writing instructor. She is the author of Journey of a Returning Christian: Writing Into God (Chalice Press: 1994) and Sono italiana: a journey back to the beginning (Riverside Press, 2003). She has been published in a wide range of literary journals, including: Poeti italo-americani, Vermont Voices, South Florida Poetry Review, Phoebe, Peregrine, and Tampa Review. She is co-author, with Barbara Worton, of the play, If I’m Talking, Why Aren’t You Listening?, and is the author of another play, Things I Never Told My Mother. 

For more than 30 years, Linda has been in the communications business. She is an expert interviewer, writer and focus group director. In another life, she was an account manager at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising; copy manager for the in-house communications group at Thomson Financial; co-founder of a private investment banking boutique; and general manager of an ad agency that specialized in television syndication clients.Today, her freelance clients include some of the world's largest financial and academic institutions.

Her first poem was published in the Massapequa Public School District’s anthology when she was eight years old and she has been striving for a Pulitzer ever since. Great Little Books LLC will perhaps help get her closer to this goal. 

Linda teaches creative writing for church, community and senior organizations. A native New Yorker, she now lives in Midlothian, Virginia with her husband Tim and Maxine, the Wonder Dog.

 

About the Book: TRUE STORIES, PRACTICAL TIPS AND LESSONS FROM THE ROAD

Explore Tuscany, Lombardy, Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Brugge, Paris and a moveable feast of other destinations — and see what happens when an avid planner and a devout rule breaker try to make a life together. This captivating and beautifully illustrated collection of personal essays, stories and poetry recounts the ups and downs and adventure of travel, and tells the tale of surviving a marriage and keeping friendships strong, even when the circumstances aren’t always ideal. Linger over the evocative photographs, savor the recipes, make good use of the tips for travelers and enjoy these charming tales from the road.

 

PageOneLit.com:  Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

Linda Dini Jenkins: I grew up east of New York City, on Long Island. I was born in Freeport but my family
moved to Massapequa when I was six years old. As an only child, reading, writing and music were my constant activities. I loved the poetry of e.e. cummings because he had a world view that resonated with me, plus I loved that he broke the rules by not using capital letters!  I also read Emily Dickinson, because I could identify
with her isolation. When I was fourteen, I won an essay contest and I could pick any book I wanted as a prize. I chose Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and the librarian wouldn’t give it to me without a note from my mother saying it was okay!


 

PageOneLit.com: UP AT THE VILLA - TRAVELS WITH MY HUSBAND is a wonderful insiders view of travels in Tuscany, Italy, Paris, ect... In your opinion what makes this a different travel book from others in the genre?

Linda Dini Jenkins: Well, this book crosses several genres, so it’s a little different in that regard. First and
foremost, it’s a travel memoir, but it also tells a story through poetry, recipes and travel guide information — and it’s all wrapped around a love story to both places and a person, my husband.

 

PageOneLit.com: Have you always enjoyed traveling? Does travel expand on your creative spirit?

Linda Dini Jenkins: Travel was always an adventure for me. When I was a girl living at home, we took
vacations every year and my parents would take me to state parks and historical sites (Civil War battlefields, Juliette Gordon Low’s birthplace, museums) and, although I’m sure I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have, it was always a treat to leave the daily routine and do something different. As an adult, I see how important leaving the day-to-day can be in terms of being a great prompt and guide for the creative imagination.
 

PageOneLit.com:  UP AT THE VILLA - TRAVELS WITH MY HUSBAND has many thought provoking and interesting information not found in many travel books like "How to cook a snail" and "The Secret of the Scorpion" - Explain.

Linda Dini Jenkins: Well, the snail story is easy: I didn’t want anybody getting sick after cooking snails as
casually as Tim did on our trip, so I thought it best to find a fairly simple recipe that would provide a similar result. Snails are very complicated things to cook! I’ve learned at my readings that people’s two favorite stories are the snail story and the scorpion story. I included them to be entertaining stories, for sure, but also to illustrate the
humor and complications of a marriage, and I think they succeed on both levels.

 

PageOneLit.com: UP AT THE VILLA - TRAVELS WITH MY HUSBAND has some poetry - Explain. Did you take all of the photographs in UP AT THE VILLA -
TRAVELS WITH MY HUSBAND?

Linda Dini Jenkins: I have been published as a poet since the late 1980s (well, actually, my first poem
was published in the school system’s newsletter when I was eight years old, back in 1957). But I have been writing in other genres for about 20 years. I have written two plays, one with my oldest friend Barbara Worton, and have seen them both produced, which was both thrilling and nervous-making all at once. And I started to write non-fiction essays about five years ago, which is what gave me the courage to try to put this book together.
Many of the photographs in the book are mine and Tim’s (the eponymous husband), but the book’s designer (the fabulous Dom Rodi) also did a lot of research and found shots that  strengthened many of the stories enormously.

 

PageOneLit.com:  What do you hope to achieve with UP AT THE VILLA - TRAVELS WITH MY HUSBAND?

Linda Dini Jenkins: Well, my primary objective is to entertain people. That’s what a book like this should do. If they’re not entertained, they won’t read it. But in addition to that, I wanted to give travelers permission to laugh at themselves and know they’re not alone when they encounter all kinds of predictable (and not so predictable) glitches on the road — language barriers, shopping for food, dealing with ferry strikes and learning what the left lane on the autostrada really means. Also, to show that it's quite possible to travel in a group and stay sane.


 

PageOneLit.com: What was the last book you read?

Linda Dini Jenkins:  I usually have a few going at once. Right now I’m reading THE BEST DAY, THE WORST DAY by Donald Hall and also THE PERFECT SUMMER: ENGLAND 1911, JUST BEFORE THE STORM by Juliet Nicholson.

 

PageOneLit.com:  What's next?

Linda Dini Jenkins:  For reading? On deck are A YEAR IN THE WORLD by Frances Mayes and JO JONES, a novel by Anne Lamott, one of my favorite non-fiction writers.

For traveling? A summer venture with Tim from Santa Barbara up the coast to Oroville, California, to do a little ancestry digging. Then, in September, a trip to Italy with Tim and my best friends to help celebrate a very big birthday.

 

PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

Linda Dini Jenkins: My hobbies are cooking and photography. Like music and theatre – other loves of mine – I believe that anything that stimulates the senses can enhance your creativity. Being creative or being in the presence of creativity leads to more creativity. Sometimes all it takes is a walk in the woods or along the beach. Sometimes I get great ideas in the shower. You just have to be in the moment, which is not always
easy these days.