Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Isabel Allende, who appeared at the 2010 National Book Festival on September 25, 2010, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Biography

Isabel Allende is a best-selling Chilean-American writer who was born in Lima, where her father, Tomás Allende, was Chile’s ambassador to Peru. Her uncle was Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was assassinated in 1973 during a military coup. Believing it was unsafe to remain in Chile, Isabel, her husband and two children fled to Venezuela. While in exile, she wrote her first novel, “The House of the Spirits,” which was made into a film in 1994. Isabel Allende’s works weave elements of magical-realism into her stories of women and their struggles. Since then, Allende has written many novels and other works, such as plays and children’s stories. Her most recent novel is “The Island Beneath the Sea” (HarperCollins). Allende will receive this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival Creative Achievement Award.