2. Paulo Coelho was born in Brazil
and attended a Jesuit school. As a
teenager, Coelho wanted to
become a writer. Upon telling his
mother this, she responded with
"My dear, your father is an
engineer. He's a logical,
reasonable man with a very clear
vision of the world. Do you
actually know what it means to be
a writer?" After researching, which
was common for him since he was
a policy debater when he was in
high school, Coelho concluded that
a writer "always wears glasses and
never combs his hair" and has a
"duty and an obligation never to
be understood by his own
generation," amongst other things.
3. At 16, Coelho's introversion and
opposition to following a traditional
path led to his parents committing
him to a mental institution from
which he escaped three times
before being released at the age of
20. Coelho later remarked that "It
wasn't that they wanted to hurt me,
but they didn't know what to do...
They did not do that to destroy me,
they did that to save me“. At his
parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in
law school and abandoned his
dream of becoming a writer. One
year later, he dropped out and lived
life as a hippie, traveling through
South America, North Africa,
Mexico, and Europe and started
drugs in the 1960s. Upon his return
to Brazil, Coelho worked as a
songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis
Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon
Raul Seixas. Composing with Raul
led to Paulo being associated with
magic and occultism, due to the
content of some songs.
4. In 1982 Coelho published his first
book, Hell Archives, which failed to
make a substantial impact. In 1986
he contributed to the Practical
Manual of Vampirism, although he
later tried to take it off the shelves
since he considered it “of bad
quality" After making the
pilgrimage to Santiago de
Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote
The Pilgrimage. The following year,
Coelho wrote The Alchemist and
published it through a small
Brazilian publishing house who
made an initial print run of 900
copies and decided not to reprint.
He subsequently found a bigger
publishing house, and with the
publication of his next book Brida,
The Alchemist became a Brazilian
bestseller. The Alchemist has gone
on to sell more than 65 million
copies, becoming one of the best-selling
books in history, and has
been translated into 80 different
languages, winning the Guinness
World Record for most translated
book by a living author.
5. Diary of a magician En 1987,
one year after crossing the
Way of Santiago, Paulo writes
his first book, The pilgrim of
Compost Her (with the original
title Or Diário of um Magician,
' diary of a magician '). The
book narrates his experiences
during the peregrination and
discovers that the
extraordinary thing is in the
way of the common persons.
It publishes in a small
Brazilian publishing house, and
though it does not have
repercussion between the
critique, harvests a relative
best-seller.
6. The alchemist in 1988 writes the
second book very different from
the first one: The alchemist. It is a
question of a symbolic book, a
metaphor of the life, in that it
reflects his studies of alchemy for
eleven years. In his first edition
only it manages to sell 900 copies
and the publishing house decides
not to follow with her
publicación.7 8 Looks then for a
major publishing house that is
interested for his work, the
publisher Rocco. In 1990 is
published Bridle, which he speaks
about the gift that each of us
takes inside. The publication of
this book, that this time already
had the attention of the press,
leads to The Alchemist and the
Diary of a Magician to the top of
the lists of best sellers.
7. Bridle (1990), it is a book
that treats the history of a
21-year-old Irish young
woman of age who knows a
magician, asks whom to
turn into a witch. But to be
able to manage to possess
the magic that she always
has wished, Bridle will have
to realize that the key is
simple: the love. The book
shows us how the greatness
of the love can overcome all
the obstacles and stop to go
to the twin soul.
8. The valkírias Written in 1992, it
treats of a man that it goes in
search of his angel to see it
directly and to speak with him. In
order to achieve it he travels to
the desert of the Mojave,
accompanied of his wife, and in his
way they must think the valkirias
(divinities of the Scandinavian
mythology, daughters of the god
Odín, that in the combats they
were designating the heroes who
had to die, which later they were
serving in the Valhalla, the
mansion of the deceased heroes in
combat, a species of paradise for
these, which local god is Wotan),
those who will say to him what it
has to do to achieve his
assignment. In his trip it is
realizing what things it must
change in his life, not to destroy
everything what it has obtained,
whereas his wife is discovering the
world in which his pair lives.
9. On the banks of the river Stone
I sat down and wept. (1994)
The history centres on Prop, an
independent young woman,
who feels frustrated by the
routine life of the university
and decides to look for another
meaning to his life. Pilar's life
gives one I overturn when he
thinks a friend of his infancy,
that now he is a spiritual
teacher and of that rumored
that realizes miracles and
treatments. The book narrates
the trip of both across the
French Pyrenees.
10. In 1996, Objective Publishing
house acquires the rights of The
fifth mountain, his following
publication, with an anticipation of
1.000.000 of dollars, never codes
paid a Brazilian author. In the
same year, Philippe Douste-Blazy,
the French secretary of Culture
names Paulo ' Gentleman of the
Arts and the Letters ' saying, ' you
have turned into the alchemist for
million readers. Your books do well
because they stimulate our
aptitude to dream, our desire to
search. ' Also in 1996, Paulo is
nominated special counselor in the
program of the UNESCO ' spiritual
Convergences and intercultural
dialogs. ' The same year, The
Alchemist is published in Germany
(Diogenes). His version in hard lid
beats the record in the year 2002
with more than 306 weeks of
permanency in the lists of more
sold of Der Spiegel.
11. In 1998, Paulo publishes his
notable Manual work of the
warrior of the light, a collection
of philosophical thoughts that
help us to discover the warrior
of the light who exists in each
of us. The title transforms in a
work of reference to million
readers. The first publication is
in Italy (Bompiani), with a
spectacular best-seller.
12. Veronika decides to die, with a
more narrative style, it publishes in
1998 and rapidly it receives
excellent critiques. In September, it
had received more than 1.200 e-mails
and letters that were
counting similar experiences. In
October, some of the topics treated
in the book - depression, syndrome
of panic, suicide - they were
discussed in a seminar that had
national repercussion. " On January
22 of the following year, the
senator Eduardo Suplicy read
extracts of my book in a plenary
session and managed to approve a
law that was walking turning for
the Congress of Brazil from it was
doing ten years: the one that
prohibits the hospitable arbitrary
internments ". In January, 2000,
Umberto Eco comments for Focus:
" I like most recent Coelho's novel.
Really it has affected me deeply ".
13. The Zahir.
When the absence turns into
obsession. A recognized writer of
world reputation discovers one day
that his wife, correspondent of war,
has eliminated without leaving
track. It has been kidnapped,
victim of an attempt or simply she
was feeling unsatisfied with his
marriage? When his absence turns
into an obsession, the narrator
proposes to find the answers to all
the questions that have appeared
him, and initiates the way towards
an unknown destination.
14. Set in the attractive environment of
the festival of Cannes, The victor is
alone goes far beyond of the luxury
and the glamour, and it us leads to a
deep reflection brings over of the
force of the own dreams and of
which it is the set of values to which
we measure up. For 24 hours we
follow the steps of Igor, Russian
businessman magnate of the
communications, destroyed by a
painful sentimental break, and know
his delirious plan to attract the
attention of his ex-wife. In his way
there will cross Gabriela, a young
woman and ambitious actress;
Jasmine, model of Rwanda exiled in
Europe; Javits, an influential and
corrupt producer; and Hamid, stylist
that it began of zero and it is today
in the top of his glory.
15. The theatre in the Education - 1974
Krig-há's Manifest - 1974
The pilgrim of Compost Her - 1987
The alchemist - 1988
Bridle - 1990
The supreme gift (of Henry Drummond) - 1991
Valquirias - 1992
Maktub - 1994
On the banks of The river Stone I sat down and wept - 1994.
The fifth mountain - 1996
Love letters of the Prophet (of Khalil Gibran) - 1997
The Manual of the Warrior of the Light - 1997
Verónika decides to die – 1998
The demon and miss Prym - 2000
Eleven minutes - 2003
The Zahir - 2005
The witch of Portobello - 2007
Like the river that flows - 2008
The victor is alone - 2008
The way of the arch - 2009
Histories for parents, children and grandsons - 2009
Aleph - 2011
The manuscript found in Accra - 2012
