This story focuses on Isabel Allende, one of, if not the, most well-known Latin-American author. Most children educated in Spanish-speaking countries will study Allende’s work.
Allende’s books and successes are certainly not restricted to Latin America. On the contrary, she has sold millions of titles worldwide, reaching people on every continent.
You can be forgiven for thinking Allende’s story is lifted from a storybook. It has all the components of a thrilling novel: family history, political unrest, coups, exile, peaks, valleys, romance, tragedy, and success. But it all started at Paula Magazine, where she would later become the editor. During this time, she worked in Chilean TV and as a journalist. The latter put her in a room with beloved Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, whom she had pursued for an interview. That meeting changed the course of her life. Neruda told her she was too imaginative for journalism and should become a novelist instead.
Her first novel, La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits), was penned in exile after escaping the 1976 Chilean coup. The Allende family (and many others) landed in Caracas, Venezuela. La casa de los espíritus was a letter to her dying grandfather and was written in familiar circumstances for many budding authors.
“I wrote my first book on the kitchen counter in our apartment in Caracas.”
From writing on her kitchen counter, fleeing a coup in a neighboring country, Allende eventually exploded on the literary scene. But those days of relative ambiguity had a lasting impression. She always starts her writing year on January 8th, the day she sat down to write that letter.
Thirty-eight years removed from the release of La Casa de los Espíritus, and 26 books later, Allende spends many days in sunny California. We caught up with her over email to ask a few questions.
Since her beginnings are so well known, we wanted to know where she writes now.
“I have a room of my own at home and a coach house in the back of my foundation house in Sausalito, California. Considering that I wrote my first book on the kitchen counter in our apartment in Caracas, this is incredibly luxurious!”
One of Allende’s most skillful themes is magical realism, a literary style that combines literary fiction with art, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. It is, along with many other fiction genres, a female-dominated field. So we wanted to know why she thought this was.
“Fiction is usually about emotions and relationships, and culturally, women are better than men at acknowledging emotions and cultivating relationships.”
Many writers rely on music to keep them focused. Or to put them in the right frame of mind to write. Allende is known for her strict consistency, working 10 hours a day, six days a week. So we wondered what melodies keep her ‘in the zone’.
“Nothing. I work in silence whenever possible.”
Perhaps we are all missing a trick with our carefully curated playlists. It’s safe to say this answer isn’t music to Spotify’s ears.
Lastly, we wanted to get to the bottom of her longevity. Some authors struggle to maintain the same level of output or creativity. Most struggle with both. But for Allende, some of her best work has been released in the last five years! So, what motivates one of the most successful writers of our time to continue?
“I love writing and researching. I have a book in my head constantly. Motivation to write is not needed; motivation to take some time off would be nice.”
We aren’t all created equal. You can be a great writer whether or not you need motivation to get going in the morning. But there will always be a select few, like Allende, who consume themselves with their work so much that a lack of motivation is never an issue.
Are you one of the special ones, someone who never needs to be motivated to pick up your pen? Have you read Allende’s work? If so, what is your favorite book? This weekend, stroll into your local bookshop and pick up an Allende title.
If you haven’t read anything by Allende, check out our list below. These are our three favorite Allende novels:
3 — Paula: A Memoir
Want to know more about Nuwa Pen? Visit nuwapen.com and discover how the world’s best pen is being developed.
