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| Isabel Allende | |
The National Book Foundation will award the 2018 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Isabel Allende "for her expansive body of work--made up of nearly two dozen works of fiction, memoir and essay--and her role as a critical figure of Latin-American literature, as well as a wildly successful writer of titles in translation in the U.S., her adopted country."
Allende, who is the first Spanish-language author to be awarded the DCAL medal and only the second DCAL-recipient to be born outside the U.S., will receive $10,000 and a solid brass medal. Mexican-American writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Luís Alberto Urrea (The Devil's Highway) will present the award to Allende on November 14 at the 69th National Book Awards ceremony and benefit dinner in New York City.
Born in Chile in 1942, Allende fled to Venezuela with her family after the 1973 coup that deposed President Salvador Allende, her father's cousin. She published her debut novel, The House of the Spirits, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1982.
"Able to forge profoundly emotional connections with readers around the world, Isabel Allende has offered generations of fans multilayered and deeply felt narratives that illuminate the rich lives and histories of her characters," said National Book Foundation board chairman David Steinberger. "Allende pulls from her own experiences to offer a global audience access to geographically and culturally specific stories that might otherwise never reach them."
Lisa Lucas, executive director of the NBF, said: "Through expertly crafted and propulsive narratives, Allende elevates the stories and lives of women, never condescending to her readers or cheapening the experiences of her characters. Allende's work is proof that artistic excellence and commercial viability are not exclusive concepts, and that stories about women written with women in mind are not only good business, but also represent crucial contributions to the literary landscape."
In addition to The House of the Spirits, Allende has written nearly two dozen books, including Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, City of the Beasts, Paula, and her most recent novel, In the Midst of Winter.
Allende is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to her by Barack Obama in 2014. Other honors and awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN America, Chile's National Literature Prize, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement.