Isabel Allende was born in 1942, in Peru, spent her early childhood in Chile and lived in various places during her adolescence and youth. After the military coup in 1973 in Chile, she went into exile in Venezuela and since 1987 has lived as an immigrant in California. She defines herself as an "eternal foreigner."
She began her literary career in journalism, in Chile and Venezuela. In 1982 her first novel, The House of the Spirits, became one of the legendary titles of Latin American literature. It was followed by many others, all of which have been international successes. Her work has been translated into forty languages and has sold more than seventy million copies, making her the best-selling Spanish-language writer.
She has received more than sixty international awards, including the Chilean National Literature Prize in 2010, the Hans Christian Andersen Award in Denmark, in 2012, for her trilogy "Memories of the Eagle and the Jaguar" and the Medal of Freedom in the United States, the highest civilian honor, in 2014. In 2018, Isabel Allende became the first Spanish-language writer awarded the medal of honor of the National Book Award, in the United States for her significant contribution to the world of letters.
See more
See less
