Isabel Allende

Selected Biography

1942: Born in Lima,

Peru

1945: mother moves family

moves to her native

Chile

1962: marries

(eventually has two children)

1967: begins

writing for feminist

and children’s journals in

Chile

1970: Salvador Allende elected

president of Chile

1972: 1st play El

Ambajador performed

in Chile

1972: President Allende

overthrown and killed

in a military coup

Selected Biography (cont)

1975: Moves to Venezuela

for 13 years

1982: HOTS is published

1987: divorces 1st

husband

1988: re-marries with a man from

the US. Moves to

San Francisco

1990: Democracy

reinstated in Chile.

Author returns for first visit in

15 years

1992: daughter dies after long term

coma, letter to her

becomes the book

Paula

2006: Winter

Olympics flag bearer

for Latin America in

Italy

The genesis“This is my grandfather, Agustin Llona Cuevas. He was almost one hundred years when he died. My first book (House of the Spirits) began as a letter to this beloved old man.” (Allende)

The inspiration“My clairvoyant grandmother Isabel Barros Moreira. She died when Iwas very young, but her spirit has always accompanied me.” (Allende)

On language

“I can only write fiction in Spanish, because it is for me a very organic process that I can only do in my language. Fortunately I have excellent translators all over the world.”

On other writers

“I belong to the first generation of Latin American writers brought up reading other Latin American writers. Before my time our writers' work was not well distributed in our continent. Therefore, in Chile it was very hard to read other writers from Latin America. My greatest influences have been all the great writers of the Latin American boom of literature.”

On magic realism

“It's strange that my work has been classified as magic realism because I see my novels as just being realistic literature… When you allow dreams, visions and premonitions to enter into your everyday life and your work as a writer, reality seems to expand.”

On her writing rituals

“On January 8, 1981, I was living in Venezuela and I received a phone call that my beloved grandfather was dying. I began a letter for him that later became my first novel, The House of The Spirits. It was such a lucky book from the very beginning, that I kept that lucky date to start.”

On writing

“Writing is like training to be an athlete. There is a lot of training and work that nobody sees in order to compete. The writer needs to write every day, just as the athlete needs to train. Much of the writing will never be used, but it is essential to do it.”

Bibliography

Allende, Isabel. http://isabelallende.com