Isabel Allende

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Isabel Allende was born on August 2, 1942 in Lima, Perú to Tomás Allende, a diplomatic official of Chile and cousin of Salvador Allende and Francisca Llona or better known as "Doña Panchita", daughter of Isabel Barros Moreira and Agustin Llona Cuevas.

In 1945, three years after Isabel was born, her mother divorced her husband and returns to Chile to live with her parents and raise her three small children.

In 1953-58, Doña Panchita courted and would eventually marry Ramón Huidobro or better known as the "tío Ramón", who was also diplomatic and appointed to Bolivia and Beirut. It was there in Bolivia where Isabel attended North American private school and Beirut to an English private school.

Isabel begins work for the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations in Santiago.

Isabel married boyfriend engineering student, Miguel Frias.

Isabel gave birth to first child, a daughter named Paula.

She traveled through Europe, eventually settling down in Brussels and Switzerland with her family.

Isabel returned to Chile to give birth to her second child, Nicolas.

She began work as a journalist, writing in the humorous column "The Impertinents" and fieminist articles for the Paula magazine. She also formed the part of the first editorial team on the magazine.

Isabel's second cousin, Salvador Allende was elected first socialist president of Chile. Her stepfather, Ramon, was appointed ambassador to Argentina.

Isabel began work as a reporter for television channels 13 and 7 in Santiago and has a humorous program and another one of interviews. Her programs are greatly enjoyed by the viewing public.

Her first stage play El Embajador was performed in Santiago.

On September 11, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte leads a rebellion in Chile; Salvador Allende died and the public thinks it was a possible assassination, however, the Chile government released a statement confirming that he committed suicide.

Isabel and her family moved and settled in Venezuela for thirteen years; she began work as a journalist for the Caracas, El Nacional newspaper.

She temporarily separated from husband, Miguel Frias and moved to Spain for two months, only to return to her marriage later on.

She began working as an administrator in a secondary school in Caracas called the Marroco College

She received notice that her 99 year old grandfather is dying. She began writing a letter to him, which would later on become to be a manuscript for her first novel, "The House of Spirits".

Her manuscript for "The House of Spirits" was published in Plaza y Janes, Barcelona.

Her second novel, "La gorda de porcelana", was published. Her written this story back in 1974 and a year later was submitted for printing. Her third novel, "Of Love and Shadows" was published as well.

Her novel "The House of Spirits" was translated in English.

She divorced her husband of 25 years. Her fourth novel, " Eva Luna" was published, but would later be translated in English.

On July 17, she married her boyfriend Willie Gordon in San Francisco. They eventually settled in San Rafael where they now reside.

Her collection of short stories called the "Stories of Eva Luna" was published.

Patricio Aylwin was elected president in Chile after its democracy was established again. Isabel returned to Chile after a fifteen year absence to receive the Gabriela Mistral award.

Her fifth novel "The Infinite Plan" was published in Spain. Her daughter, Paula, suffered a Porphyria attack and goes into a coma December 6 in Madrid while Isabel toured to promote her novel.

Her daughter, Paula, died on December 6th in San Rafael in Isabel and Willie's house.

"The Infinite Plan" was translated in English. Meanwhile, her very first novel, "The House of Spirits" was performed in London in August. That October, "The House of Spirits" was released as a motion picture starring Winona Ryder, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Glen Close, Jeremy Irons, and Antonio Banderas.

Her sixth novel, "Paula" was published in Spanish by Plaza y Janes. Her third novel "Of Love and Shadows" was released as a motion picture starring Antonio Banderas as the lead actor.

Her seventh novel "Aphrodite" was published in Spanish by Plaza y Janes.

She received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. This award was granted to "who has contributed to the beauty of the world", crowing a long list of international awards in her career.

Her eighth novel, "Daughter of Fortune" was published in Spain and would soon be translated in English. Her son, Nicolas, and his fiancée, Lori Barra, were wed.

Her ninth novel, "Portrait in Sepia" was published in Spain and in other European countries with tremendous success. She was invited to talk to Oprah Winfrey on her show, which helped with her novel sell in the United States.

"The City of Beasts", her first novel trilogy for young adults was published to rave reviews.

Her tenth novel "My Invented Country" was published and was featured on the Bill Moyers show, "NOW" and was covered by the press.

"Kingdom of the Golden Dragon", the second installment in the trilogy, was published in Spanish. It would later be translated and published in English on May 2004. She won the "Author that Everyone Should Read" honor and spent a week in Seattle celebrating the honor. She was named Ambassador to Hans Christian Andersen on Sept. 2004 at Rosenberg Castle in Copenhagen. Mr. Lars Seeberg, Secretary General of the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation presented the award.

"Forest of the Pygmies," the third and last installment of the trilogy, was published in 2005.

Work Cited: www.isabelallende.com