Isabel Allende

Chilean writer (born 1942) · United States · Writers · also Chile

11,546 readers on 16 October, the first readership we can measure.

She turned exile into a literary career that made her the world's most widely read Spanish-language author. The House of the Spirits launched her in 1982, and she's been weaving myth, memory, and the lives of women into commercially successful novels ever since.

Writers Actor Voice Acting Screenwriting Fiction Literature Journalism United States

A life in dates

2018BBC 100 WomenAward2017Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardsAward2016California Hall of FameAward2015“There are a lot of good people, Irina, but they keep quiet about it. It’s the bad ones who make a lot of noise, and that’s why they get noticed..." (p103)”In their wordsThe Japanese Lover (2015)Read the whole statement

“...We are all born happy. Life gets us dirty along the way, but we can clean it up.”In their wordsThe Japanese Lover (2015)Read the whole statement

2014Honorary Doctor of Harvard UniversityAward2013Carl Sandburg Literary AwardAward2012Hans Christian Andersen Literature AwardAward2011Alcalá City AwardsAward2010“When Irina Bazili began working at Lark House in 2010, she was twenty-three years old but already had few illusions about life. (first line)”In their wordsThe Japanese Lover (2015)Read the whole statement

Library of Congress Prize for American FictionAward2007Honorary DoctorateAward2006Great Immigrants AwardAward2005“He realized...that the loudest are the least sincere, that arrogance is a quality of the ignorant, and that flatterers tend to be vicious.”In their wordsZorro (2005)Read the whole statement

2004Common Wealth Award of Distinguished ServiceAward2000WILLA Literary AwardAward1994“Silence before being born, silence after death: life is nothing but noise between two unfathomable silences.”In their wordsPaula (1994)Read the whole statement

1989American Book AwardsAward1985Premio Bellas Artes de Narrativa Colima para Obra PublicadaAward1984“For women, the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time.”In their wordsOf Love and Shadows (1984)Read the whole statement

1942Born2 August 1942

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Isabel Allende Frankfurter Buchmesse 2015 (cropped)

CuentosDeEvaLuna

Eduardo Frei e Isabel Allende

Girl Power at TED conference 2007 by jurvetson

Isabel Allende - 001

Isabel Allende 2017-09-08

Isabel Allende con Juan Manuel Marcos

Isabel Allende Frankfurter Buchmesse 2015

In their own words 10

Isabel Allende

10 statements, newest first

There are a lot of good people, Irina, but they keep quiet about it. It’s the bad ones who make a lot of noise, and that’s why they get noticed..." (p103)
2015, The Japanese Lover (2015), Own words
...you shouldn't stay trapped in the past or be frightened of the future. You only have one life, but if you live it well, that’s enough. The only reality is now, today.
2015, The Japanese Lover (2015), Own words
...We are all born happy. Life gets us dirty along the way, but we can clean it up.
2015, The Japanese Lover (2015), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

BBC 100 Women2018

Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards2017

California Hall of Fame2016

Honorary Doctor of Harvard University2014

Presidential Medal of Freedom2014

Carl Sandburg Literary Award2013

Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award2012

Alcalá City Awards2011

National Prize for Literature (Chile)2010

Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction2010

Honorary Doctorate2007

Great Immigrants Award2006

Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service2004

Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso2003

WILLA Literary Award2000

American Book Awards1989

Premio Bellas Artes de Narrativa Colima para Obra Publicada1985

Honorary Doctor of the University of Santiago, Chile

Family

Isabel Allende

Partners

Children

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About this person

Isabel Angélica Allende Llona was born in Chile on 2 August 1942. Her works, often laced with magical realism, draw on personal experience and historical events - a method that paid off when The House of the Spirits arrived in 1982 and found a global audience. City of the Beasts followed in 2002, part of a catalog that kept growing as she lectured at U.S. colleges and became fluent enough in English to gain American citizenship in 1993, after settling in California in 1989. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2010 Chile gave her its National Literature Prize. Four years later, Barack Obama handed her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Country

United States

In common with Isabel

Glenn CloseAlso in The House of the Spirits (1993)

Jennifer ConnellyAlso in Of Love and Shadows (1994)

Jeremy IronsAlso in The House of the Spirits (1993)

Michael RubboAlso in Unfinished Diary (1982)

Winona RyderAlso in The House of the Spirits (1993)

Vanessa RedgraveAlso in The House of the Spirits (1993)

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