An Evening with Isabelle Allende

Last night I saw Isabelle Allende at the Adrienne Arsht Center.  Each time I've been to the Arsht Center, it's taken longer and been more of a hassle in terms of getting there.  Last night I thought we might miss the event altogether.  There was a Super Bowl event nearby, which we didn't anticipate.

But we pressed forward and made it through the crowds to get our tickets--again, quite a crowd at the Will Call window.  I was glad to see the huge crowds, and I was happy that the Will Call window handled them efficiently.

I thought I had gotten us good seats, close to the front, but we spent the night seeing Allende from the side.  Still, it was a good evening.

The one thing that was unusual in an author appearance:  she didn't read from her new book at all.  She talked a bit about the inspiration for it, and a bit about current events that might make us think of past times in history that had a despot take over.

She talked a lot about her family, and several times she stressed that we should cherish our families because we never know how long we'll have them with us.  She said that she always answered fan letters, but she rarely entered into long-term correspondence.  I thought it was amazing that she answered fan letters.

She said that she's never finished a writing project that didn't get published--interesting.  She said that by the time she starts writing, she's done so much research and so much thinking about the project, that she knows she's got a publishable book on her hands.

She also said that she's her favorite author.  I didn't get the idea that she reads much outside of materials she's reading for her own project.

She also said that she doesn't remember her books very well, even in the time just after she's finished writing them.  She recounted being asked about a character and not being able to recall anything about the character.  How intriguing.

So, true confession time:  Isabelle Allende isn't one of my favorite authors.  I like the idea of what she's doing, but I rarely pick up her novels.

Why did I go?  My friend and her sister LOVE Isabelle Allende, and in fact, she is their all-time favorite author.

I also went because I know how old Allende is--opportunities to see her won't be coming my way forever.  And in our current age, I like being able to support female authors in this way.  She doesn't need my support--I'm well aware of that.  But I need to support what's important to me:  books and keeping a record and bearing witness.