The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. 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 bestselling Brazilian books of all time. During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986.
While never having visited India yet, Paulo believes that Indian culture has been a huge influence on both himself and western philosophy.
Paulo Coelho’s parents, worried that he wanted to become a writer and an artist, put their son in an insane asylum three times before the age of 20. He says, “My parents thought I was psychotic. That was the diagnosis. I used to read a lot, I was very shy and I didn’t socialise very easily. They were desperate. It wasn’t that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn’t know what to do.
After years of hedonism on the road, Paulo returned to Brazil to pursue a career writing songs. He built a strong and lucrative career doing this – in 1974, he was even arrested for ‘subversive’ activities by the ruling military government for writing revolutionary lyrics.
The theme of omens has influenced Coelho’s work from the Alchemist onward, and it is a facet of his writing influenced from his life. Coelho pays a great deal of attention to omens, and one in particular – he will start writing a new book only after finding a white feather.
For those with a taste for literary laughs, this might be the answer to life the universe and everything – when did Paulo Coelho gain enlightenment? At the age of 42.
0
0
