Isak Dinesen Books & Biography

Karen von Blixen-Finecke, also known by her nom de plume, Isak Dinesen, was born in Denmark in 1885. Dinesen is widely known for her 1937 memoir, Out of Africa, which was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film starring Meryl Streep. Dinesen spent much of her early life at her mother’s estate in Horsens, but was no stranger to travelling, as she studied art in Rome, Paris, and Copenhagen. In 1914, Dinesen and her fiancée, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, moved to Kenya to manage a coffee plantation. After divorcing in 1925, Dinesen lived briefly with the aristocratic big-game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton, who led safaris for wealthy visitors. After his death and the shutdown of the coffee plantation due to a global economic decline, Dinesen returned to Denmark and immersed herself in her writing, publishing Out of Africa shortly after. Dinesen died in 1962.