AUTHOR OF THE WEEK June 21
Karen Blixen
(Short Stories, Nonfiction, Memorist)
“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”
“God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road.”
“We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power.”
“I start with a tingle, a kind of feeling of the story I will write. Then come the character, and they take over, they make the story.”
“To be a person is to have a story to tell.”
Karen Blixen, 1885 to 1962, was a Danish author (pen name Isak Dinesen). A baroness, a farmer, a storyteller. Blixen wrote works in Danish, French, and English and is famously known for Out of Africa, her account of living in Kenya, and one of her stories, Babette’s Feast, both of which have been adapted into highly acclaimed, Academy Award-winning motion pictures. She was considered several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Most of her readers have known her to be a woman who fought for women’s rights at a time and in a country that challenged many female liberties.
“I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills” is the opening lines of Out of Africa, that romantic adventure that has become a classic in literature and motion pictures. If you’ve never seen the film, you can stream it easily and it’s a beautiful escape into the mind and imagination of Karen Blixen. If you are a fan of short stories, this is a writer to dive into.
(Karen’s study in Denmark)
In Karen’s home in Copenhagen, garden and bird sanctuary:
Out of Africa, behind the scenes:
The Paris Review’s Interview of Karen Blixen, The Art of Fiction:
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4911/the-art-of-fiction-no-14-isak-dinesen
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Paula Cappa 