Today we celebrate the birth of author Isak Dinesen, aka Karen von-Blixen, born into a well-to-do family in Denmark on April 17, 1885. Best known for her second book, the memoir OUT OF AFRICA, published in 1937 when she was 52 (take heart, late bloomers!), Dinesen was among the few non-native English speakers — Joseph Conrad also comes to mind — who wrote in English.
After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, Ernest Hemingway wrote in the New York Times Book Review (11/7/1954): “As a Nobel Prize winner I cannot but regret that the award was never given to Mark Twain, nor to Henry James, speaking only of my own countrymen. Greater writers than these also did not receive the prize. I would have been happy — happier — today if the prize had been given to that beautiful writer Isak Dinesen.”
Many people were introduced to Dinesen, her life, and her work through the 1985 movie version of OUT OF AFRICA starring Meryl Streep — a performance that resulted in one of her many Oscar nominations. (Who can forget the wonderful hair washing scene?)
In researching Isak Dinesen/Karen von-Blixen, I learned that her image appears on the Denmark 50 Kroner note. (And she’s not the only woman featured on Danish currency.) Female authors everywhere salute you, Denmark!
Silver Birch Press 