DINESEN SALES UP TENFOLD

Sales of books by Isak Dinesen have increased tenfold throughout the world since the Oscar-winning film “Out of Africa” was released last year, a representative of the author’s estate has reported.

Isak Dinesen was the pen-name used by author Karen Blixen.

Income from the sale of the filming rights, ticket sales and book royalties have secured the future of Rungstedlund, the author’s Danish home, said Tore Dinesen, chairman of the Rungstedlund Foundation and grand-nephew of the late author.

A Danish newspaper has quoted Dinesen as saying that a preliminary estimate shows that 1986 alone will yield $385,000 to the foundation.

Rungstedlund is financed by royalties from book sales, but in 2012, half a century after Blixen’s death, the author’s copyright will expire.

“Out of Africa” starred Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and was directed by Sydney Pollack. It is based on Blixen’s autobiographical book of the same name and describes her life on a coffee farm in Kenya and her love affair with Denys Finch Hatton, an English safari hunter.