Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho was born in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro. He left his studies to travel the world as a hippie. Upon returning to Brazil, he began writing plays and lyrics for the songs of Raul Seixas. In 1970, he published the magazine "2001." In 1981, he left his job as a director of a record company and started traveling the world for two years. In the Netherlands, he met a person who would change his life, encouraging him to discover himself. Coelho experienced a spiritual rebirth by turning to Christianity and began his writing career, documenting his personal experiences in his first book, "The Pilgrimage" (1987). This was followed by "The Alchemist" (1988), "Brida" (1990), "The Valkyries" (1992), "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept" (1994), "The Fifth Mountain" (1996), "Manual of the Warrior of Light" (1997), "Veronika Decides to Die" (1998), "The Devil and Miss Prym" (2000), among others. His books have been translated into most of the world's languages and have achieved global publishing success. Since 2002, he has held seat 21 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and in 2007, he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2009, he was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most translated author for the book "The Alchemist." http://paulocoelhoblog.com/