10 Books Written by or About Karen Blixen

Karen Blixen’s tumultuous life has sparked intrigue from people all over the world, ever since she wrote her memoir, Out of Africa. First published in 1937, the book recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East Africa. The Danish author, who also wrote under the pen name Isak Dinesen, wrote several works even before she left her homeland to farm coffee in Kenya. She continued to publish throughout her life.

Here is a list of books by Karen Blixen, available to purchase online, all written about or by Karen Blixen / Isak Dinesen:

	Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) Danish countess Karen Blixon, known as Isak Dineson, ran a coffee plantation in Kenya in the years when Africa remained a romantic and formidable continent to most Europeans. Out of Africa is her account of her life there, with stories of her respectful relationships with the Masai, Kikuyu, and Somali natives who work on her land; the European friends who visit her; and the imposing permanence of the wild, high land itself. Based in Kenya’s Happy Valley. amazon.com
	Winter’s Tales by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) In Isak Dinesen’s universe, the magical enchantment of the fairy tale and the moral resonance of myth coexist with an unflinching grasp of the most obscure human strengths and weaknesses. A despairing author abandons his wife, but in the course of a long night’s wandering, he learns love’s true value and returns to her, only to find her a different woman than the one he left. amazon.com
	Letters from Africa, 1914 – 1931 by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) “Here is a rich new biographical perspective on the brilliant storyteller whose sophisticated romantic fiction . . . made her an international success and perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. . . . [These letters] contain the raw material that was later transformed into her classic memoir Out of Africa (1937). They also reveal her as a highly intelligent and sensitive analyst of a strange new world.”—Bruce Allen, Christian Science Monitor amazon.com
	Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), 1942 Karen Blixen takes up the absorbing story of her life in Kenya begun in the unforgettable Out of Africa, which she published under the name of Isak Dinesen. With warmth and humanity these four stories illuminate her love both for the African people, their dignity and traditions and for the beauty and wildness of the landscape. The first three were written in the 1950s and the last, ‘Echoes from the Hills’, was written especially for this volume in the summer of 1960 when the author was in her seventies. In all they provide a moving final chapter to her African reminiscences. amazon.com
	Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), 1942 Originally published in 1934, Seven Gothic Tales, the first book by “one of the finest and most singular artists of our time” (The Atlantic), is a modern classic. Here are seven exquisite tales combining the keen psychological insight characteristic of the modern short story with the haunting mystery of the nineteenth-century Gothic tale, in the tradition of writers such as Goethe, Hoffmann, and Poe. amazon.com
	Babette’s Feast and Other Stories by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), 1942 These five rich, witty and magical stories from the author of Out of Africa include one of her most well known tales, ‘Babette’s Feast’, which was made into the classic film. It tells the story of a French cook working in a puritanical Norwegian community, who treats her employers to the decadent feast of a lifetime. All the stories have a mystic, fairy-tale quality, linked by themes of angels, the sea, dreams and fate. amazon.com
	Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman A brilliant literary portrait, Isak Dinesen remains the only comprehensive biography of one of the greatest storytellers of our time. With exceptional grace, Judith Thurman’s classic work explores Dinesen’s life. amazon.com
	Silence Will Speak: A study of the life of Denys Finch Hatton and his relationship with Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski A study of the well-born Englishman who, after World War I, went to Kenya to organize big game hunting, became intimate with Karen Blixen, and took charge of the Prince of Wales’s safaris. amazon.com
	Out of Isak Dinesen in Africa: Karen Blixen’s untold story by Linda Donelson Examines Dinesen’s life in Africa, Karen Blixen’s relationships with lovers and family, and her health problems. amazon.com
qweqweqweqweqweqw	Isak Dinesen / Karen Blixen: The Work and Life by Aage Henriksen A leading Danish critic and long-time friend of the late author offers a compilation of essays on Dinesen’s life and work, critically analyzing her diverse writings, the key themes and symbols of her work, and the overall shape and meaning of her oeuvre. amazon.com