Novelist Isabel Allende on Her Literary Career and Memories of Chile During the CIA-Backed Coup
In a holiday special, we spend the hour with Isabel Allende, one of Latin America’s and the United States’ greatest novelists. Just this week she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Allende is the author of 20 books, including "The House of the Spirits," "Paula" and "Daughter of Fortune." Her latest is a mystery novel titled "Ripper." Her books have been translated into 35 languages, sold close to 60 million copies around the world. Allende now lives in California, but she was born in Peru in 1942 and traveled the world as the daughter of a Chilean diplomat. Her father’s first cousin was Salvador Allende, Chile’s president from 1970 until Sept. 11, 1973, when Augusto Pinochet seized power in a CIA-backed military coup. Salvador Allende died in the palace that day. Isabel Allende would later flee from her native Chile to Venezuela. In April, Amy Goodman conducted a public interview with Isabel Allende at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York shortly after the publication of "Ripper." In this wide-ranging conversation, Allende discusses her literary career and her memories of Chile before and during the coup.
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: Today we spend the hour with Isabel Allende, one of Latin America’s and the United States’ greatest novelists. She’s the author of 20 books, including The House of the Spirits, Paula, Daughter of Fortune. Her latest is a mystery novel based in the Bay Area titled Ripper. Her books have been translated into 35 languages, sold over 57 million copies around the world.
Isabel Allende now lives in California. She was born, though, in Peru in 1942 and traveled the world as the daughter of a Chilean diplomat. Her father’s first cousin was Salvador Allende, Chile’s president from 1970 to September 11th, 1973, when Augusto Pinochet seized power in a CIA-backed military coup in Chile. Salvador Allende died in the palace that day. Isabel Allende would later flee from her native Chile and lived in exile in Venezuela.
On Monday, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When Isabel Allende learned that her grandfather in Chile was dying, she started writing him a letter. Night after night she returned to it, until she realized she was actually writing her first novel. She never really stopped. Her novels and memoirs tell of families, magic, romance, oppression, violence, redemption—all the big stuff. But in her hands, the big became graspable and familiar and human. In exile from Chile by a military junta, she made the U.S. her home. Today, the foundation she created to honor her late daughter helps families worldwide. She begins all her books on January 8th, the day she began that letter to her grandfather years ago. "Write to register history," she says. "Write what should not be forgotten."
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