Talks & Entertainment

From the New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, A Long Petal of the Sea, and The Wind Knows My Name comes My Name Is Emilia del Valle, a historical novel about a young writer who journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. Her passion for writing begins with publishing pulp fiction under a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she goes to Chile to cover a brewing civil war, where she meets her estranged father. As the war escalates, Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny. 

A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the PEN Center Lifetime Achievement Award, Allende is one of the most widely read authors in the world with over 80 million copies of her books sold. 

Allende will be in conversation with Dr. Jill Biden. A lifelong public school and community college educator, Dr. Biden served as First Lady of the United States from 2021 – 2025 and Second Lady of the United States from 2009 – 2017. As both First and Second Lady, she continued to work as a community college professor, making her the first presidential spouse to maintain a full-time career while living in the White House. Dr. Biden is the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir, Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself.

Note: For this event, books will not be signed by the author.