Isabel Allende to Offer Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Isabel Allende, one of Latin America's most noted authors, will speak on "Stories and Dreams" at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26 in the Arkansas Union Ballroom, followed by a public reception in the Arkansas Union Multicultural Center. Both events are free and open to the public.

Born in Peru in 1942, Allende moved to Chile when she was three. She fled to Venezuela after her uncle, Chilean president Salvador Allende, was assassinated in 1973. Her best-selling novels, written in Spanish, have been translated into more than 27 languages.

Her first novel, "The House of the Spirits," was published in 1982. Other works include "Of Love and Shadows," "Eva Luna," "The Infinite Plan," "Paula," "Daughter of Fortune," "Portrait in Sepia" and the autobiography "My Invented Country." She has recently written three novels for young adults, "The City of the Beasts," "Kingdom of the Golden Dragon" and "Forest of the Pygmies." "The House of the Spirits" and "Of Love and Shadows" were made into motion pictures.

"In the 1980s, Allende launched almost single-handedly what has come to be known as the 'feminist' boom in Hispanic literature," said Steven Bell, director of the Latin American Studies Program. "It was a pointed counter-response to the original 'boom' of Latin American fiction, dating from the 60s and made famous by such authors as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which is now recognized as having constituted yet another old boys network, despite its achievements."

Of writing, Allende has said that "For women the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time."

Before leaving Chile, Allende worked for the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Santiago, where she was a secretary for several years. Later, she became a journalist, editor, advice columnist for Paula magazine and a television interviewer. She moved to the United States in 1987, settling in northern California.

"Allende is an immensely popular novelist of broad international appeal. She is a masterful teller of tales, managing to cast in a universal light the distinctive flavor of Hispanic culture. We hope the presence of an author of her stature might serve to energize our attention to the Hispanic culture all around us, and to the essential human values of dignity, fairness, and equality of opportunity, as the novels of Isabel Allende invariably do," said Bell.

She is a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and was named Feminist of the Year by the Feminist Majority Foundation in 1994. Her numerous awards include Best Novel of the Year, Chile, 1983; Author of the Year, Germany, 1984; Book of the Year, Switzerland, 1987; Best Novel, Mexico, 1985; XLI Bancarella Literary Award, Italy, 1993; Donna Citta Di Roma Literary Award, Italy, 1998; and the Excellence in International Literature and Arts Award, USA, 2002.

She has received honorary doctorates from Bates College, Dominican College, New York State University and Columbia College. Allende has taught literature at the University of Virginia-Charlottesville, Montclair College in New Jersey and the University of California, Berkeley.

"I'm not surprised that as word has spread of her impending visit, we have received inquiries from people in Tulsa, Joplin, Conway and even Lawrence, Kan. For many readers, her vision of empathy and loyalty, discretion and forgiveness provide reassurance and release from the bustle to get ahead at any cost," said Bell.