Today is the birthday of Karen Blixen, one of the best known Danish authors of the 20th century and one of my personal favorites. She's most likely best known for being the subject of the movie"Out of Africa" which chronicles her life in Kenya from 1914 to 1931. She wrote several books in English under the nom de plume Isak Dinesen, including Seven Gothic Tales, Winter's Tales, and Out of Africa. She's also known for writing Babette's Feast, on which the movie of the same name was based. Excerpt from the book "Out of Africa"

"If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?"