Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende Llona was born one of three children to Francisca Llona Barres and Tomás Allende, the second secretary at the Chilean embassy, in Lima, Peru. In 1945, Allende’s parents divorced after her father left the family, and she moved to Santiago, Chile, with her mother and siblings and lived with her maternal grandparents. Allende’s grandmother was interested in spiritualism, an influence that is seen in The House of the Spirits. Allende also had unlimited access to her grandmother’s rather large library, sparking a lifelong interest in reading, especially Shakespeare. Allende’s mother remarried a Chilean diplomat, and the family traveled extensively, enrolling Allende in private schools in both Bolivia and Beirut, Lebanon. Allende finished her schooling in Chile, where she met and married her first husband in 1962 and went on to have two children. She worked for the United Nations in Chile and Europe until 1965 and translated English romance novels into Spanish on the side. During this time, Allende also worked as an editor, a journalist, and even wrote and published two children’s stories. In 1970, Allende’s father’s cousin, Salvador Allende, was elected the first socialist President of Chile, and in 1973, was overthrown in a military coup d’état. During the coup, President Allende reportedly committed suicide; however, it is suspected that he was killed by the opposition. Much like the character of Alba in The House of the Spirits, Allende began helping those blacklisted by the new government escape the country, which landed Allende herself on the wanted list. She escaped to Venezuela, where she lived in exile with her family for 13 years. During this time, Allende wrote and published The House of the Spirits (originally in Spanish) in 1982, to critical and popular acclaim. Over the next several years, Allende wrote many novels and nonfiction works, such as Eva Luna in 1987 and Paula in 1994. She is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature in 1996, the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2010, and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. Allende lives in California with her husband, Roger Cukras, and is considered the most widely read Spanish-language author in the world.