CHILE: Chilean author Isabel Allende presents her latest book

Chilean writer Isabel Allende returned to her native country for the official launch of her latest novel 'Ines of my soul' in the capital Santiago on Sunday (August 20). The South American writer is internationally acclaimed for novels like 'The House of Spirits', which was made into a movie in 1993 starring Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons, 'Eva Luna', Her latest book from tells the story of Ines de Suarez, a woman who arrived in Chile in 1540 with a group of Spanish 'conquistadors' who went on to establish the present day capital a year later. "The figure of Ines emerged and I started to read, and I realized what the time of the Spanish conquest was. It was a brutal period, which in many things resembles the things that are happening today. It was the empire that exported the cross and the sword, and went in search of what was then the equivalent of oil today: gold. And with this pretext they subjugated people and they committed genocide in which they killed thousands and thousands of indigenous people and changed a culture, changed a race, changed a religion, changed the whole continent," said Allende. The writer, who is currently based in the United States, delighted her compatriots by signing copies of her books in a number of bookshops around the city in which she grew up. For Licca Palma, the chance to meet Allende in person was too good to pass up. "She is a writer that never spends much time in Chile and that we don't have within our reach, so really it was fantastic," she said. Maria Godoy has been a fan of Allende for years, but this was her first opportunity to meet the author. "I was waiting for the moment to be able to ask her to sign a book. I have all her books. I love how she writes," she said. Allende was born in Peru, but grew up in Chile and considers herself Chilean. The niece of former president Salvador Allende, who committed suicide when a bloody coup ousted him and ushered in the country's 17-year-dictatorship, Allende fled the country soon after the military took power. In her 2003 book, 'My Invented Country', she tells the story of her relationship with her home country Chile. She has been a US citizen since 2003. Considered one of the world's most popular novelists, her books have sold over 35 million copies and have been translated in 27 different languages. ENDS.

ITN Source | August 24, 2006

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