Isabel Allende
1942– · Chilean-American (Lima/Santiago/San Francisco) · Contemporary Latin American Literature
Known for: Most widely read Spanish-language author alive—The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, Of Love and Shadows
Isabel Allende is the niece of Chilean President Salvador Allende, overthrown by Pinochet in 1973. She fled Chile and began writing The House of the Spirits as a letter to her dying grandfather—it became an international phenomenon. She starts every new novel on January 8th, a superstition from her first book.
She founded the Isabel Allende Foundation after her daughter Paula's death. She lives in California and has written over 25 books. She brought magical realism to a global female readership and is the most important Latin American woman novelist.
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