Prolific Chilean author and journalist Isabel Allende is recognized as the first internationally successful female Latin American author. She has written more than 20 books that have been translated into 42 languages and sold more than 74 million copies worldwide.
Her best-known novels include “The House of the Spirits” (La casa de los espíritus) and “City of the Beasts” (La ciudad de las bestias). Her feminist works include elements of magical realism and often reflect her own personal experiences and historical events, as well as paying homage to the lives of women committed to social justice and human rights.
Allende was born in 1942 in Lima, Peru to Chilean parents. She is the goddaughter of Salvador Allende, President of Chile from 1970 to 1973, who was a cousin of her diplomat father. After her father abandoned the family, they moved back to Chile. While there, she worked as a journalist and with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization until Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.
In 1973, after the suicide of her godfather, Allende fled to Venezuela, where she lived for 13 years. During this time she wrote her first novel, “The House of the Spirits.” It was followed by the novels “Of Love and Shadows” (De amor y de sombra), “Eva Luna,” “The Infinite Plan” (El plan infinito), and “The Stories of Eva Luna” (Cuentos de Eva Luna). Many of these discuss the portrayal of South American politics and examine the role of women in Latin America.
In 1991, Allende’s daughter, Paula, fell into a coma due to porphyria. She died a year later at the age of 29, and Allende channeled her grief into her first non-fiction work, the acclaimed memoir, “Paula.” She also established the Isabel Allende Foundation to honor her daughter, which is dedicated to promoting and protecting the fundamental rights of women and children.
Allende has lived in the United States since the early 1990s and was granted citizenship in 1993. She has accumulated numerous prestigious awards, including Chile's National Literature Prize, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her most recent memoir, “The Soul of a Woman,” was published in 2021 and explores her development as a feminist.