Born: 2 August 1942, Peru
Died: NA
Country most active: Chile, United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Isabel Allende was born on August 2, 1942, in Lima, Peru. She is considered a Chilean writer, as her family moved to Santiago, Chile, when she was very young. She is the author of over twenty books including The House of the Spirits (La Casa de los Espíritus) (1982), Eva Luna (1987), Paula (1995), Inés del Alma Mía (Inés of My Soul) (2006), and Violeta (2022). Her awards include the Chilean National Prize for Literature (Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement, and novel The House of the Spirits was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1985. She currently lives between the US and Chile and continues to write prolifically.
Isabel Allende nació el 2 de agosto de 1942 en Lima, Perú. Es considerada una escritora chilena, ya que su familia se trasladó a Santiago, Chile, cuando era muy joven. Allende es autora de más de veinte libros, entre los cuales se incluyen La Casa de los Espíritus (1982), Eva Luna (1987), Paula (1995), Inés del Alma Mía (2006) y Violeta (2022). Entre sus premios se incluyen el Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile, la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad, el Premio Literario del Centro PEN USA, y su novela La Casa de los Espíritus fue finalista del National Book Award for Fiction en 1985. Actualmente, reside entre Estados Unidos y Chile, y continúa escribiendo prolificamente.
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Isabel Allende is a best-selling Chilean-American writer who was born in Lima, where her father, Tomás Allende, was Chile’s ambassador to Peru. Her uncle was Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was assassinated in 1973 during a military coup. Believing it was unsafe to remain in Chile, Isabel, her husband and two children fled to Venezuela.
While in exile, she wrote her first novel, “The House of the Spirits,” which was made into a film in 1994. Isabel Allende’s works weave elements of magical-realism into her stories of women and their struggles. Since then, Allende has written many novels and other works, such as plays and children’s stories.