JACQUELINE COOPER: Author-Artist (née Klat) was born in Alexandria. Both her parents were Egyptian of Lebanese and Syrian descent.
Her first book “Cocktails and Camels,” (Penname Jacqueline Carol) a witty autobiography of her youth in Alexandria was published in New York 1960 to excellent reviews. It was resurrected in 2008 by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to preserve the nostalgia and memory of the old cosmopolitan city. Preface and new cover by the author. Copies may be obtained from the Bibliotheca. (Out of print originals fetch some $120 on Internet.)
FOR ADULTS: “Tales From Alexandria.” (1994) “Scribbles—Workshop Assignments And Other Miseries.” (2004) “Le Crazy Cat Saloon.” (2005) “You Never Know…Moments.” (2008)
FOR CHILDREN: “Angus And The Mona Lisa,” a picture book. A cat flies to Paris to look up his French ancestors and saves the Mona Lisa from being stolen. Nice reviews. Translated into Japanese.
“Toby And The Escalade” (1997) Bilingual picture book on Geneva’s most important historical event. The Duke of Savoy attempts to capture Geneva on a cold December night by climbing its high walls with ladders. But Mother Royaume throws her pot of boiling hot vegetable soup on the heads of the enemy… Geneva now celebrates with 3 days of festivities and chocolate soup pots filled with marzipan vegetables.
Also bilingual: “Cat Day/Fête des Chats.” (1998) “William Tell/Guillaume Tell.” (1999)
“Kevin and The Escalade Race.” (2001)
JACQUELINE COOPER was in Washington, D.C. from 1960-1990 where she brushed up on her artistic skills at the Corcoran School of Art. Her 40 or so humorous exhibits depicted cats as doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, etc., who all spoke franglais and went about their business with great joie de vivre in streets with French names. She designed cards for UNICEF and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Short stories on Alexandria were aired on the BBC and printed in The Christian Science Monitor.
She moved to Geneva in 1990 to be nearer family, and to her doctor daughter and 3 grandsons in England. She joined the “American Women’s Club” Writers Workshop and, in 1993 Susan Tiberghien’s “Geneva Writers Group.” She has regularly appeared in its anthology OFFSHOOTS, often with stories on Alexandria.
She was a member of P.E.N. “The Society of Women Writers and Journalists” (UK) and “La Société Genevoise des Ecrivains.
JACQUELINE COOPER says she was never driven. “The books and whimsical cats came purring at my door. I just let them in.”
