Laura Restrepo

Laura Restrepo is one of the most skilled writers to emerge from Latin America since the days of the Latin American Boom. She was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1950 and after about 25 years she began to write her first serious works, mainly political columns. Her first fiction novel, Isle of Passion, is based on historical facts from Clipperton Island. This novel is believed to be the beginning of her career as a writer.

Early life

Laura Restrepo was born in 1950, in Bogotá, Colombia the older of two daughters. Her grandfather was completely self-educated but still managed to learn six languages. Her father was very similar except he actually did go to school but left at the age of 13 to work and eventually became a businessman. Although he believed in education, he thought it should be learned by experience rather than traditional schooling. According to Restrepo, her father would take her, her mother, Helen, and her sister, Carmen, everywhere he went on business. They went by car due to his hatred of flying and they never stopped long enough for her and her sister to attend a full year of school. Once she went to a public school in California for only one day because her father took the family somewhere else the next day. When she was around ten years old her formal education...
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