Educated at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Blixen also studied in French in Switzerland. She published her first stories, The Hermits, in 1907. In 1914 she married her cousin Bror von Blixen-Finecke and they moved to Kenya where they started a coffee plantation. In 1915, Blixen returned to Denmark after being diagnosed with syphillus contracted from her promiscuous husband. After returning to Africa, she began an affair with the English hunter Denys Finch Hatton and suffered a miscarriage of his child in 1922. During the 1920's, Blixen managed the successful plantation, returning often to Denmark and was finally divorced in 1925. The Depression caused the failure of the plantation and she was forced to sell out in 1931 and return once again to Denmark. She devoted her time entirely to writing and in 1934 published her first major work Seven Gothic Tales which was very well-received. She followed in 1938 with Out of Africa a semi-autobiographical work based on her African experiences and which gave her international recognition. She remained in Denmark during the Second World War and the Nazi occupation, continuing to write and publish her work, which included Winter's Tales in 1942. During the 1950's her health began to deteriorate and in 1955 she had major surgery due to an ulcer which resulted in the loss of a third of her stomach. Blixen was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, but lost out to Ernest Hemingway, and again in 1957 when she lost to Albert Camus. In 1959, she had a successful tour of the United States. Her stomach problems continued and in 1962, unable to eat, she succumbed to malnutrition at the family estate in Denmark. Out of Africa and some of her tales including Babette's Feast were made into highly successful films. Her other works include The Ploughman (1907), The de Cats Family (1909), The Revenge of Truth (1926), The Angelic Avenger (1944), Last Tales (1957), Anecdotes of Destiny (1958), Shadows on the Grass (1960) and Ehrengard (1963 Posthumous).