Novelist Isabel Allende writes stories of passion. Her novels and memoirs, including The House of the Spirits and Eva Luna, tell the stories of women and men who live with passionate commitment -- to love, to their world, to an ideal.
Why you should listen to her:
As a novelist and memoirist, Isabel Allende writes of passionate lives, including her own. Born into a Chilean family with political ties, she went into exile in the United States in the 1970s -- an event that, she believes, created her as a writer. Her voice blends sweeping narrative with touches of magical realism; her stories are romantic, in the very best sense of the word. Her novels include The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva Luna, and her latest, Ines of My Soul and La Suma de los Dias (The Sum of Our Days). And don't forget her adventure trilogy for young readers -- City of the Beasts, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon and Forest of the Pygmies.
As a memoirist, she has written about her vision of her lost Chile, in My Invented Country, and movingly tells the story of her life to her own daughter, in Paula. Her book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses memorably linked two sections of the bookstore that don't see much crossover: Erotica and Cookbooks. Just as vital is her community work: The Isabel Allende Foundation works with nonprofits in the SF Bay Area and Chile to empower and protect women and girls -- understanding that empowering women is the only true route to social and economic justice.
"Allende can spin a funny, sensual yarn, but she can also use her narrative skills to remind us that parallel to our placid and comfortable existence is another, invisible universe, one where poverty, misery and torture are all too real."Patricia Hart, The Nation
Blog Posts on TED
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News from Isabel Allende's 3 powerful women – June 23, 2008
Isabel Allende writes novels about self-reliant women who thrive in the midst of political turmoil. In her passionate TEDTalk, Allende praises women whose grit and selflessness transform the meaning of modern feminism -- mentioning, in particular, three women of rare courage: Wangari Maathai, Somaly Mam and Rose Mapendo. Watch Isabel Allende's TEDTalk, then read what these women are doing now to change our world.
Wangari Maathai (find her at 4:09 in Allende's talk) is
the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As Allende says, Maathai "planted 30 million trees, and by doing so she has changed the soil, the weather in some places in Africa -- and, of course, the economic conditions in many villages.” Writing in a recent Harvard International Review, Maathai discusses the reasoning behind her crusade -- her belief that the best way to achieve sustainable development is to empower local communities. Last week, Maathai was named co-chair of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, recipient of a £58 million grant from the British government for satellite monitoring of the Congo rainforest.
Somaly Mam (find her at 4:24)
is “a Cambodian activist who fights passionately against child prostitution. ... She told us of little girls raped by men who believed that having sex with a very young virgin will cure them of AIDS.” Somaly Mam’s grandfather sold her to a brothel when she was 15 years old; 11 years later, she established AFESIP, an NGO that has since rescued more than 4,000 young women from sexual slavery. Named Glamour’s 2006 Woman of the Year -- and the subject of an astonishing profile by Marianne Pearl -- Mam battles human trafficking by raising global awareness through the Somaly Mam Foundation. Her autobiography, The Road of Lost Innocence, will be published in the US in September 2008.
Rose Mapendo (find her at 7:31)
Mapendo, whose name in Swahili means “Great Love,” protected her nine children through 16 months in a Congo concentration camp. Allende tells the story: “When the soldiers break into [Mapendo’s] cell to rape her oldest daughter, she grabs onto her and refuses to let go, even when they hold a gun to her head.” Now settled in Phoenix, Arizona, Mapendo is the ambassador for Mapendo International, which evacuates and rehabilitates African refugees. Her efforts earned her the 2007 Grand Award from Volvo for Life, and last week she spoke at the White House to honor World Refugee Day. But Mapendo’s latest achievement may be the most personal; on Thursday, her organization tells TED, her parents will finally resettle in the US. Watch a trailer for the upcoming documentary about Mapendo's struggle to reunite her family. -- Karl Kong
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Beyond the Top 10 TEDTalks: user favorites – July 1, 2008
Last week, TEDTalks celebrated our 50 millionth view by counting down the Top 10 TEDTalks of all time (so far) -- and inviting people to share their own favorites. Here are a few: My favorite is still Susan Savage-Rumbaugh and those bonobo apes. -- S.F., Boynton Beach, Florida Stamets (mushrooms), Isabel Allende (passion), Dave Eggers (schools), and Ballard (ocean) -- not to be missed. -- Marian Angele Majora Carter's talk on her environmental work in the Bronx. -- lydia chadwick Majora Carter's is my absolute favorite! -- Ariel, a TED fan I am dropping a line to say how much I enjoyed Aubrey de Grey's speech on aging. -- Diana Pasley I think Malcom Gladwell is that hidden gem. -- +Jono I nominate Theo Jansen's talk on creating new creatures as one of the "Hidden Gems." -- Paul If your own favorite TEDTalks aren't on the Top 10 list yet -- or you'd like to share your own hidden gems -- write to us at contact@ted.com or post a comment.
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Tales of passion: Isabel Allende on TED.com – January 3, 2008
In one of the most beloved talks from TED2007, novelist Isabel Allende talks about writing, women, passion, feminism. She tells the stories of powerful women she has known, some larger-than-life (listen for a beauty tip from Sophia Loren), and some simply living with grace, dignity and ingenuity in a world that, in too many ways, still treats women unjustly. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:02.)
Watch Isabel Allende's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Isabel Allende on TED.com.
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