Acclaimed novelist Isabel Allende will visit Montana State University in September as part of the second annual President’s Crossing Boundaries Speaker Series.

MSU will host “Abriendo Puertas: Hispanic Heritage Month with Isabel Allende” on Monday, Sept. 30, in the Strand Union Building ballrooms. The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. with Allende’s talk and will be followed by a Q&A session. The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

Allende is a Chilean-American writer known for interweaving imaginative stories with significant historical events in her books. She first won worldwide acclaim in 1982 with the publication of her debut novel, “The House of the Spirits,” which began as a letter to her dying grandfather. Since then, she has authored 27 bestselling books, including “Of Love and Shadows,” “Eva Luna,” “Daughter of Fortune,” “Island Beneath the Sea,” “Paula,” “The Japanese Lover,” “A Long Petal of the Sea,” her most recent memoir, “The Soul of a Woman,” and her most recent novel, “The Wind Knows My Name.” Allende’s books have sold more than 77 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 40 languages.

In addition to her work as a writer, Allende is a philanthropist and devotes much of her time to human rights causes. In 1996, following the death of her daughter, Paula, she established a charitable foundation in her honor. It has since awarded grants to more than 100 nonprofits worldwide that deliver care to hundreds of thousands of women and girls.

Among other awards, in 2004, Allende was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2010, she received Chile's National Literature Prize. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded Allende the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, and in 2018 she received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. Allende also has received 15 honorary doctorates, including one from Harvard University. She lives in California.

Allende will be the second of three speakers in MSU’s second annual President’s Crossing Boundaries Speaker Series. Through the series of lectures, MSU welcomes speakers to campus who have gone on remarkable journeys to cross seemingly impassible boundaries. In August, the series will feature Tommy Orange, an acclaimed Cheyenne and Arapaho author whose novels chronicle contemporary Native American life. Orange will speak at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at MSU’s First Year Student Convocation at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. On Oct. 30, bestselling author Margot Lee Shetterly will deliver “Hidden Figures: Breaking Barriers Within STEM.” All three events are free and open to the public. Visit montana.edu/president/crossing-boundaries/ for more information.

Contact person:

James Tobin, jtobin@montana.edu or 406-994-2345