Isabel Angélica (Allende Barros) Allende Llona

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Biography

Isabel Angélica Allende Llona is an author known for her use of magical realism.

Isabel Angélica Allende Llona was born in the early 1940s in Lima, Peru.^[1] She is the daughter of Tomás Guillermo Allende, a prior second secretary at the Chilean embassy, and Francisca "Doña Panchita" Llona Barros. Her father left when she was a toddler.^[2] Her mother then moved with her three children to Santiago, Chile.^[3][4] They moved often after she remarried and Isabel's education includes a private school in America as well as in Beirut, Lebanon.^[2]

Isabel met an engineering student, who she married in the 1960s.^[2][4] She worked with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Santiago, then in Brussels, as well as elsewhere in Europe.^[2] Isabel spent some time in Chile translating romance novels from English to Spanish.^[2][5] This ended after she changed the dialogue to make the women sound more intelligent.^[2] She was also a translator for Barbara Cartland, a well-known television personality.^[2][6] In 1967 she was added to the editorial staff at Paula magazine, where she later became the editor.^[2]

Isabel had two children with her husband.^[2] The first, a daughter, died at the age of twenty-nine after the disease porphyria led to her hospitalization.^[7] The other child was a son.

Salvador Guillermo Allende, President of Chile and her father's cousin, was overthrown by Augusto José Ramón Pinochet.^[1][2][8][9] Isabel spent her time arranging safe passage for people on the "wanted list," until such time that her parents narrowly escaped assasination.^[2] When she appeared on the list her family fled to Venezuela, where she lived for thirteen years and started writing her novels.^{[2][6][9][10]} Her novels have been translated into more than 42 languages and sold more than 77 million copies.^[2]

• • "The House of the Spirits was an attempt to recover the world I’d lost in exile—my family, my country, my past, my grandfather—and I think I did. It will forever be in that book." ~ Isabel Allende ^[10]

Isabel remarried in 1988. She was the first woman to receive the award the Gabriela Mistral Order of Merit.^[2] Isabel was a flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy in 2006.^[2][11] Two years later she received the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from San Francisco State University for her "distinguished contributions as a literary artist and humanitarian."^[2] In 2014 President Barack Obama Jr. awarded her the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom.^[1][2][12] Isabel Allende is a highly acclaimed author of 26 books that have sold 77 million copies^[9] in 35 languages. She has been recognized with numerous awards internationally. She received the prestigious National Literary Award in Chile, her country of origin, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.</ref>

• • "...I know I can’t retire. Why would I? I love what I do. For the kind of job I have, I don’t need to be fit or young. I just need to have my brain in good shape." ~ Isabel Allende ^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} "Isabel Allende" Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 29 July 1999, available on Britannica.com.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16} "Isabel Allende," as viewed on Wikipedia.org 30 September 2024.
3. ↑ Ojito, Mirta (28 July 2003). "A Writer's Heartbeats Answer Two Calls". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.. The article notes that Allende has been told that her father left them and that due to Chile's anti-divorce laws, Allende's mother could not divorce Tomás. Her mother, 83 when the article was published, and her stepfather, 87 at the time, have lived together for 57 years, but they are still not recognized in Chile as married.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} "Isabel Allende". Isabelallende.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2017. 1962 Isabel marries Miguel Frías.
5. ↑ Cox, Karen Castellucci (2003). Isabel Allende: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Press. pp. 2–4.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "Review: The undefeated: A life in writing: Often compared to Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende is more interested in telling stories about her own life, her difficult upbringing, marriage, and her daughter's death.'"Aida Edemariam. The Guardian (London) p. 11. 28 April 2007 Isabel Allende website
7. ↑ Rodden, John (1999). "Texas Papers on Latin America | After Paula: An Interview with Isabel Allende". Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin. Paper No. 99-01. Archived from the original on 1 September 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
8. ↑ Puchner, Martin; Akbari, Suzanne Conklin; Denecke, Wiebke; Fuchs, Barbara; Levine, Caroline; Lewis, Pericles; Wilson, Emily R (2018). The Norton anthology of world literature. New York. pp. 1133–1141. ISBN 978-0-393-60281-4. OCLC 1019855443.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Taladrid, Stephania. "isabel Allende's Vision of History," The New Yorker, 11 September 2023. (As viewed online at newyorker.com 30 September 2024.)
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} Beard, Alison. "Life's Work: An Interview with Isabel Allende," May 2016, Harvard Business Review, viewed online at hbr.org 30 September 2024).
11. ↑ Allende, Isabel (March 2007). TEDtalks: Isabel Allende Tells Tales of Passion. TED Conferences LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design). 1 minutes in. Retrieved 24 November 2014. In the last 20 years I have published a few books, but I have lived in anonymity until February of 2006, when I carried the Olympic flag in the Winter Olympics in Italy. That made me a celebrity. Now people recognize me in Macy's, and my grandchildren think that I'm cool. (Laughter)
12. ↑ Schulman, Kori (10 November 2014). "President Obama Announces the Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 25 March 2020. The following individuals will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House on 24 November 2014: ...

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• Wikidata: Item Q83566