About Karin Finell
-The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume III"Stories are the only enchantment possible, for when we begin to see our suffering as a story, we are saved."
Karin Finell remembered Anaïs's words while writing her memoir of WW II. She dove back into the depth of war and bombs to write what she remembered, resulting in, Good-bye to the Mermaids: A Childhood Lost in Hitler's Berlin.
Finell has written for as long as she can remember. As a child in Germany, she entertained herself by writing and illustrating fairy stories. Karin's skies were inhabited by angels and the seas by mermaids. Her created world shielded her from the reality of bombs and death.
After the war ended, Karin and her grandmother hoped to emigrate to America. In 1952, this dream came true for Karin, but alone, because her grandmother had passed away. Karin arrived in Santa Monica at age eighteen to live with strict Mormon relatives whom she had never met. After her mother arrived in the United States, they moved to Los Angeles where Karin attended evening classes at City College. Finell married Marvin Finell, and entered UCLA as a junior. That year she adopted a baby son and became pregnant with her daughter. She considers that period the most fulfilling of her life. At UCLA, Finell earned her B.A. in English Literature (suma cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) in 1967 and her M.A. degree in 1970.
Finell's articles have appeared in the German literary magazine MERIAN, and in Pferd und Reiter. Her poetry has been published in The Poetry Therapy Journal and in The Santa Barbara Independent. Her stories have appeared in Mexico, a Love Story (Seal Press) and in The Way, a Franciscans magazine, as well as in five volumes of the Community of Voices anthology. Karin is at work writing of her life in America.
Finell is the recipient of the 2006 Siemens Award and was awarded first place in the Literature Division of the John E. Profant Foundation of the Arts. She teaches Writing your Pain: Grief and Transformation, at Adult Education at Santa Barbara City College. Finell arranged for a celebration for: Anaïs Nin, A Writer- A Life, at the time of Anaïs' centenary (2003) at Santa Barbara City College, with Janet Fitch, Paul Herron and others in attendance.
Karin Finell lives in Santa Barbara, in a home she shares with her husband of eight years and their 130 pound German shepherd.
More works by and information about Karin Finell can be found at InkByte.com