Isabel Allende is a novelist. She has lived much of her life in Chile and is best known for her written contributions to the culture of Chile. Her writing career has spanned over two decades since she rose to stardom in 1982 for her breakthrough novel "The House of the Spirits".
Isabel Allende was born in Lima, Peru in 1942, on the second of August. Her father was the Chilean ambassador to Peru and the cousin of Salvador Allende, who would go on to become President of Chile in 1970. After graduating from primary schooling between private schools in Beirut, Lebanon and Santiago, Chile, Isabel Allende worked in Santiago for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She also found work translating romance novels during this time, but was fired for changing the dialogue and endings to make the heroines more intelligent and independent. During the sixties, Isabel Allende was married worked at Paula magazine on the editorial staff. During the seventies after the presidency of Salvador Allende, Isabel Allende was exiled from Chile and worked at a newspaper and as a high school teacher in Venezuela.
Isabel Allende's literary career took off in 1982 with the release of her novel "The House of the Spirits", a long book about family and Chilean history that started as a letter she wrote to a dying grandfather of ninety nine years. In 1993 the novel would be adapted into a movie with a cast including Meryl Streep, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas and Glenn Close. Since the success of "The House of the Spirits", Isabel Allende has released many other novels, including "La gorda de porcelana", "Of Love and Shadows", "Eva Luna", "The Infinite Plan", "Paula", "Afrodite", "Daughter of Fortune", "City of the Beasts", "Kingdom of the Golden Dragon" and "Zorro".
As of early 2007 Isabel Allende continues to write novels. She is married to an American lawyer and lives in San Rafael, California where she has become an American citizen.