Isabel Allende

On 18 October, the world-famous author Isabel Allende will be our guest. Allende broke through internationally with her novel Het huis met de geesten and has since published 21 books, of which more than 65 million copies have been sold worldwide. In 2014 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama: the highest civilian honour in the United States.

Allende will talk about her latest book De Japanse minnaar, once again a novel only she can write: colourful, dramatic, humorous, full of cliffhangers, and featuring two women you cannot help but fall in love with. Isabel Allende will be interviewed by newly appointed Opzij Literature Prize winner Niña Weijers (in English), author of the novel De consequenties. Actress Lindertje Mans will read excerpts from the book.

About De Japanse minnaar: Alma is ten years old when, in 1939, she is sent by her parents to relatives in the United States to escape the Nazis. The grief over her parents, who remain in Poland, is eased only by her friendship with her cousin Nathaniel and Ishimei, the son of a Japanese-American couple. The hostility with which American society treats them during and after the Second World War—Alma is a refugee, Nathaniel is Jewish, and Ishimei is Japanese—keeps them bound together. Ishimei becomes Alma’s great love, but she marries Nathaniel. Yet their lives remain intertwined, as they share a terrible secret.

“De Japanse minnaar is an intimate and rich story due to the precise way Allende portrays the inner lives of her characters. Beautiful.” – AD Magazine

“Only the South American master storyteller can tell such an epic story.” – LINDA.

“Allende possesses a virtuosic storytelling talent.” – Opzij

“Romance and magic are never far away in Isabel Allende’s work. This is her again.” – Elsevier

De Japanse minnaar was published by Uitgeverij Wereldbibliotheek. The original title is El amante japonés, translated from Spanish by Henk van den Heuvel.

Date: Sunday 18 October
Time: 20.00
Location: Koninklijke Schouwburg, Korte Voorhout 3, The Hague
Tickets: this interview is sold out