Paulo Coelho (1947–2024)
Author of The Alchemist
About the Author
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 24, 1947. As a teenager, he wanted to become a writer, but his parents wanted him to pursue a more substantial and secure career. At the age of 17, his introversion and opposition to his parents led them to commit him to a mental show more institution. He escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. Once released, he abandoned his ideas of becoming a writer and enrolled in law school to please his parents. He stayed in law school for one year. In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life. On the path, he had a spiritual awakening, which he described in his book The Pilgrimage. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist, and journalist. He wrote song lyrics for many famous performers in Brazilian music including Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Raul Seixas. His first book, Hell Archives, was published in 1982. He has written over 25 books since then including The Alchemist, Brida, The Fifth Mountain, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, The Zahir, The Witch of Portobello, Like a Flowing River, and Adultery. He received numerous awards including Las Pergolas Prize, The Budapest Prize, Nielsen Gold Book Award, and the Grand Prix Litteraire Elle. In 1996, he founded the Paulo Coelho Institute, which provides aid to children and elderly people with financial problems. In 2007, Coelho was named a Messenger of Peace to the United Nations. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Paulo Coelho
Inspirations: Selections from Classic Literature (Penguin Classics) (2008) — Editor — 109 copies, 4 reviews
The Collection: The Alchemist/By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept/Eleven Minutes/The Valkyries/The Fifth… (2006) 11 copies
A Teacher's Guide to The Alchemist: Common-Core Aligned Teacher Materials and a Sample Chapter (2014) 6 copies
Caderno de Anotações II 6 copies
Walking : in de voetsporen van Paulo Coelho, Bruce Chatwin, Virginia Woolf, Werner Herzog, Jon Krakauer, Reinold… (2001) 6 copies
Palavras essenciais 4 copies
Eleven Minutes 3 copies
Paulo Coelho - Short Stories 3 copies
ZAHIRI 3 copies
Doses de Sincronicidade 3 copies
A cerimonia do chá 3 copies
O que você Salvaria 2 copies
Paulo Coelho Box Set: Veronika Decides to Die / The Devil and Miss Prym / Eleven Minutes (2009) 2 copies
Caderno de Anotações I 2 copies
O Valor das Tradições 2 copies
NJEMBEDHJETE MINUTA 1 copy
Strelac 1 copy
FITIMTARI ESHTE I VETEM 1 copy
The Paulo Coelho Classics Collection 10 Books Box Set (Alchemist, Manual Of The Warrior Of Light, Pilgrimage, Eleven… (2023) 1 copy
DJALLI DHE ZONJUSHA PRYM 1 copy
BRIDA 1 copy
MALI I PESTE 1 copy
EL PEREGRINO DE COMPOSTELA 1 copy
Nha gia kim 1 copy
El Alquemista 1 copy
Fitimtari eshte i vetem 1 copy
Ο Τοξοβόλος 1 copy
Yakshaya saha Prime Meneviya 1 copy
PELEGRINI I KOMPOSTELES 1 copy
MATURIA 1 copy
the alchemist 1 copy
Алхимик (Russian Edition) 1 copy
Por ele mesmo 1 copy
El vencedor est� solo 1 copy
ARIT TE DRITES 1 copy
PELEGRINI I KOMPOSTELES 1 copy
قصة طريقين 1 copy
The angels' share 1 copy
Sigurvegarinn stendur einn 1 copy
مکتوب 1 copy
MANUAL DEL GUERRERO DE LA LUZ / A ORILLAS DEL RIO PIEDRA ME SENTE Y LLORE / EL DEMIONIO Y LA SENORITA PRYM / VERONIKA… (2006) 1 copy
أنا رجل حر 1 copy
Discurso de posse 1 copy
Seguindo a Consciência 1 copy
Manual Prático do Vampirismo 1 copy
Força 2023 1 copy
O VENCEDOR ESTÁ SÓ 1 copy
Djalli dhe zonjusha Prym 1 copy
Keemiyagar 1 copy
بريدا (Arabic Edition) 1 copy
خاطرات یک مغ 1 copy
Fīrūnīkā tuqarir an tamūt 1 copy
Amistad (Agenda 2017) 1 copy
Os Símbolos do Tempo 1 copy
Associated Works
Gather ‘Round the Sound: Holiday Stories from Beloved Authors and Great Performers Across the Globe (2017) — Contributor — 115 copies, 10 reviews
Freedom: Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2009) — Contributor — 76 copies, 2 reviews
New Beginnings: New Writing from Bestselling Authors Sold in Aid of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake Charities (2005) — Contributor — 45 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- de Souza, Paulo Coelho
- Birthdate
- 1947-08-24
- Date of death
- 2024-03-25
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Brazil
- Country (for map)
- Brazil
- Birthplace
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Places of residence
- Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Geneva, Switzerland - Education
- Colégio Santo Inácio-Rede Jesuíta de Educação
- Occupations
- writer
author
novelist
theater director
actor
lyricist (show all 7)
journalist - Relationships
- Oiticica, Christina (wife)
- Organizations
- United Nations (Messenger of Peace)
European Union (Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue)
Shimon Peres Institute for Peace
UNESCO (special counsellor for “Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual Convergences”)
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Brazilian Academy of Letters - Awards and honors
- Legion d'Honneur
Knight of Arts and Letters ( [1996])
Flaiano (1996)
Comendador de Ordem do Rio Branco ( [1998])
Crystal Award (World Economic Forum ∙ 1999)
Crystal Mirror Award ( [2000]) (show all 18)
Premio Internazionale Fregene ( [2001])
Planetary Arts Award (Club of Budapest ∙ 2002)
Order of St. Sophia (contribution to revival of science and culture ∙ [2004])
Order of Honour (Ukraine ∙ 2004)
Budapest Prize ( [2005])
Goldene Feder Award ( [2005])
International Author Award (DirectGroup ∙ [2005])
Wilbur Award (Religion Communicators Council ∙ [2006])
Cruz do Mérito do Empreendedor Juscelino Kubitschek ( [2006])
I Premio Álava en el Corazón ( [2006])
Las Pergolas Prize (Association of Mexican Booksellers ∙ [2006])
Distinction of Honour (City of Odense - Hans Christian Andersen Award ∙ [2007]) - Agent
- Sant Jordi Asociados, Barcelona
- Short biography
- The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeirom, and died in 2024 at the age of 77. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist.
Coelho wrote song lyrics for many famous performers in Brazilian music, such as Elis Regina and Rita Lee. Yet his most well known work has been done with Raul Seixas. Together they wrote such successes as Eu nasci há dez mil anos atrás (I was born ten thousand years ago), Gita and Al Capone, amongst other 60 songs.
His fascination with the spiritual quest dates back to his hippie days, when he travelled the world learning about secret societies, oriental religions, etc.
In 1982 Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives, which failed to make any kind of impact. In 1985 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”. In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage.
In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time.
Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and a compilation of texts gathered under the title Like a Flowing River (2006) published in a few countries for the moment.
He also adapted The Gift (Henry Drummond) and Love letters of a prophet (Kalil Gibran).
To date, Coelho has sold a total of 100 million copies and, according to the magazine Publishing Trends; he was the most sold author in the world in 2003 with his book Eleven Minutes – even though at the time it hadn't been released in the United States, Japan or 10 other countries!
Also according to Publishing Trends, The Alchemist was to be found in the 6th place of world sales in 2003. Eleven Minutes topped all lists in the world, except for England, where it was in second place. The Zahir, published in 2005, was in third place of bestsellers according to Publishing Trends, after Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.
The Alchemist was one of the most important literary phenomena of the 20th century. It reaches the first place in bestselling lists in 18 countries, and so far has sold 30 million copies.
The book has been praised by different personalities ranging from the Nobel Prize Kenzaburo Oe to the singer Madonna, who considers it one of her favourite books. It has equally inspired many projects – such as a musical in Japan, theatre plays in France, Belgium, USA, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland. It is also the theme of two symphonies (Italy and USA) and had its text illustrated by the famous French artist Moebius (author of the sceneries for he Fifth Element and Alien).
His work has been translated in 67 languages and edited in more than 150 countries.
http://www.paulocoelho.com
Members
Discussions
Lyra's Press next title will be "The Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho, illustrated by Gary Gianni in Fine Press Forum (Today 2:16pm)
Juli 2013 : "Der Alchimist" von Paulo Coelho in Online-Lesekreis (August 2013)
Paulo Coelho in 1001 Books to read before you die (September 2008)
Reviews
Lists
Overdue Podcast (1)
AP Lit (1)
Magic Realism (1)
BBC Big Read (1)
Unread books (1)
Fave Books (1)
Favourite Books (1)
1980s (2)
My TBR (2)
To Read (2)
Short and Sweet (1)
Carole's List (1)
psychological (1)
BitLife (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 236
- Also by
- 8
- Members
- 91,200
- Popularity
- #104
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 2,028
- ISBNs
- 2,752
- Languages
- 59
- Favorited
- 237