Book Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is the Brazilian novelist and lyricist whose 1988 fable The Alchemist became an international bestseller and a touchstone for readers around the world. Before turning to books, he wrote song lyrics for Brazilian stars Elis Regina, Rita Lee and Raul Seixas and worked as an actor, journalist and theater director. His first book, Hell Archives, appeared in 1982, and a 1986 walk along the Camino de Santiago became a spiritual turning point that inspired The Pilgrimage (1987). The Alchemist followed a year later; it first came out from a small Brazilian publisher before finding a larger audience alongside Brida, and HarperCollins brought it to English readers in 1994. His many other works include Veronika Decides to Die (1998), The Fifth Mountain, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006), Aleph and The Spy. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002, he has been named a Knight of the Legion of Honour and received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2007. He speaks movingly about purpose, faith and following one's dreams.