About
Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke (born Dinesen; 17 April 1885 – 7 September 1962) was a Danish author who wrote works in Danish and English. She is best known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countries, and Tania Blixen, used in German-speaking countries. She also published works using the aliases Osceola and Pierre Andrézel. Blixen is best known for Out of Africa, an account of her life while living in Kenya, and for one of her stories, Babette's Feast, both of which have been adapted into Academy Award-winning motion pictures. She is also noted, particularly in Denmark, for her Seven Gothic Tales. Blixen was considered several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. == Biography == === Early years === Karen Dinesen was born in the manor house of Rungstedlund, north of Copenhagen. Her father, Wilhelm Dinesen (1845–1895), was a writer and army officer from a family of Jutland landowners closely connected to the monarchy, the established church and conservative politics. Her mother, Ingeborg Westenholz (1856–1939), came from a wealthy Unitarian bourgeois merchant family. Karen Dinesen was the second oldest in a family of three sisters and two brothers. SOURCESWikipedia