Isabel Allende

Award-winning Chilean author Isabel Allende, who was born in 1973 in Lima, Peru, gained acclaim for her 1982 debut novel "The House of the Spirits." Written in a style frequently compared to the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the book covered subjects such as family politics and feminism. Since then, Allende has written a wide range of books of both fiction and nonfiction. She has also launched the Isabel Allende Foundation, which fights for social and economic justice for women and children. Updated 2007