In Conversation with Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is coming to the Sohmen Concert Hall at the Schwarzman Centre on Monday 2 November, for a conversation about storytelling. She'll be joined by Dr Olivia Vázquez-Medina, Associate Professor and Tutorial Fellow in Spanish, who'll be leading the discussion.

Allende is one of the most widely read writers in the world. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, she first made her mark in 1982 with The House of the Spirits, a novel that started as a letter to her dying grandfather. Since then, she's written twenty-eight books, translated into more than forty languages, and picked up fifteen honorary doctorates, including one from Harvard. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US's highest civilian honour; in 2018, she received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation; and in 2024, the Bodleian Libraries here in Oxford gave her the Bodley Medal.

The talk marks the publication of her new book, Storytelling: A Masterclass in Crafting Stories, so that's the material the conversation will be working from. It's presented by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, which is celebrating the centenary of the King Alfonso XIII Chair in Spanish.

The session runs for one hour with no interval, starting at 4.30pm. It's already sold out, so if you're hoping to get in, your only option now is the waiting list.