Patti M. Marxsen is an essayist, biographer, independent scholar, and translator (FR>EN) whose writings have been published in the USA, Europe, and the Caribbean. She is the author of two biographies, two essay collections, a collection of short fiction, and numerous articles and reviews related to visual art and Haitian literature.

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As publications manager for the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (Cambridge, MA)—now The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue—Marxsen developed multi-author books on global ethics and education aimed at college students. She began to write independently after moving to Switzerland in 2007, initially covering art exhibitions in Swiss museums for the expat community, before turning to essays and deeply-researched book projects. Her biography of Albert Schweitzer’s wife, Helene Schweitzer: A Life of Her Own (Syracuse University Press, 2015), was written in Switzerland and researched in Europe, the USA, and Gabon. Her stint as Guest Editor-in-Chief of the 2017 edition of Offshoots 14—Writing from Geneva capped a decade-long involvement with the Geneva Writers Group. In 2021, she returned to the coast of Maine where her professional writing life began in 1989 when she created a job for herself as “The Write Woman" who not only covered the arts for The Camden Herald but also wrote 2,000+ radio ads.

 

Marxsen’s books reflect her long-standing interest in the Francophone world, which has encompassed teaching French, extensive travel, and a decade-long association with Haiti’s Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (1997–2007). She has served on the board of the U.S.-based Haitian Studies Association (HSA) and presented papers at conferences of the Caribbean Studies Association & HSA on key figures of modern Haitian literature including Edwidge Danticat, Yanick Lahens, Louis-Philippe Dalembert, and Jacques Roumain. Roumain’s dramatic life resulted in her second biography Jacques Roumain: A Life of Resistance, a book honored with the 2019 Haitian Studies Association Book Prize (Caribbean Studies Press, 2019). Her translations of Roumain’s writings have appeared in the Journal of Haitian Studies and Transition Magazine. In 2025, her translation of Roumain's Complete Poems  will be published by CSP/Educa Vision.

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Like her books on Helene Schweitzer and Jacques Roumain, Marxsen’s forthcoming work involves a mid-twentieth century European vision of Africa through the life of a complex subject: Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen. As a near-exact contemporary of Helene Schweitzer, Blixen faced similar challenges and recollected her experience in her famous memoir Out of Africa (1937). Marxsen's "biography of a book" titled Karen Blixen's 'Out of Africa': The Making of a 20th Century Classic will be published by LSU Press early in 2026.

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​Karen Blixen with lilies in Ngong, Colony of Kenya, 1922

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