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.
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.
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 74 countries, and so far has
sold 35 million copies. This book also brought the author in
2008 the Guiness World Record for most translated book in the
world (67 languages).
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.
(Bio. excerpted from the Offical Paulo Coelho website:
http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/engl/)
Coelho's
comments on the book:
FOLLOW MY DREAM – BUT WHICH ONE?
One of the
recurrent themes of my books is the importance of paying
the price of your dreams. But to what extent can our
dreams be manipulated? For the past decades, we lived in
a culture that privileged fame, money, power – and most
of the people were led to believe that these were the
real values that we should pursue.
We all should
be a “winner”. Not in the sense of someone who finally
wins what is important to his/her life. Not in the sense
that happiness is the most valuable gift on Earth – and
it can be attained here and now, when your work fulfills
your heart. We should be a winner in the sense that the
system portraits a successful person: celebrity,
influence, photos in glossy magazines, behaving like the
masters of the universe.
Yes, you may
reach the goal society has fed you – but will you be
satisfied? Will you be whole? Will you be in peace? This
cycle of possession never ends – because the moment that
you think that you have reached your goal another desire
creeps in. And how can you find rest when it is the hunt
that moves you?
While people
are connected – omniscient thanks to their mobile phones
and GPS – they all speak the same words, fight for the
same goals, and crave the same things. How could it be
otherwise? If fashion exists it is precisely because you
can mold the desire of the masses – or how else could a
bag, a dress impose itself as necessary?
In a world of
invisible yet unsurpassable “diktats”, where a few
puppeteers pull the strings of the many, instill in
other people’s dreams the pursue of superficial things,
there seems to be a rising feeling, a silent despair
that creeps in.
Greed to
have, greed to be seen, greed to prevail, even greed to
kill, if you think it is for a good cause – like love,
for example.
What we don’t
know is that, behind the scenes, the real manipulators
remain anonymous. They understand that the most
effective power is the one that nobody can notice –
until it is too late, and you are trapped. This book is
about this trap.
Soon after I
finished writing “The winner stands alone”, the
financial market collapsed. Will this lead us again to
the real values? I really don’t know. What I do know is
that we cannot continue to allow our dreams to be
manipulated like they are as for three of the four main
characters in the book:
Igor, a
Russian millionaire, who believes that you can kill if
you have a good reason for that – like avoiding human
suffering, or bringing back the attention the woman he
loves.
Hamid, a fashion magnate, who started with good
intentions, till he got caught by the very system he was
trying to use.
Gabriela, who
– like most of the people today – is convinced that fame
is an end by itself, the supreme reward in a world that
praises celebrity as the supreme achievement in life.
This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and
inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy
named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to
the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in
the Pyramids. What starts out as a journey to find
worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures
found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the
story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the
transforming power of our dreams and the importance of
listening to our hearts.
Eleven
Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a
Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with
love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes
convinced that she will never find true love, instead
believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make
you suffer. . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to
Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune.
Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when
she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of
self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a
path of darkness -- sexual pleasure for its own sake --
or risking everything to find her own "inner light" and
the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of
love.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights
into the book, including author interviews, recommended
reading, and more.
How do we
find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if
we are unsure of who we are?
That is the central question of international
bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The
Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious
woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her
well—or hardly at all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of
Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the
way readers think about love, passion, joy, and
sacrifice.
The narrator
of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in
Paris and enjoys all the privileges money and celebrity
bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war
correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend,
Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover.
Was Esther
kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage
that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn't have any
answers, but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then
one day Mikhail finds the narrator and promises to
reunite him with his wife. In his attempt to recapture a
lost love, the narrator discovers something unexpected
about himself.
Life:
Selected Quotations
Click to order via
Amazon
This
collection of selected quotes from Paulo Coelho's
impressive body of work is a must–have item for fans of
this celebrated and internationally bestselling author.
A beautiful book with four–colour artwork by the
renowned Norwegian artist Anne Kristin Hagesaether, it
contains inspirational quotes from such beloved Coelho
titles as Eleven Minutes, The Valkyries, The Devil And
Miss Prym, The Zahir, and the mega bestseller The
Alchemist. Whether read in one sitting or savoured
gradually, this is a visually stunning and enlightening
look into Coelho's extraordinary perspective on life
–one that has won over millions of readers worldwide and
made Coelho one of the top–selling authors in the world.
The
Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation
Click to order via
Amazon
A stranger
arrives at the remote village of Viscos, carrying with
him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold
bars. He comes searching for the answer to a question
that torments him: Are human beings, in essence, good or
evil? In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole
village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot,
which will forever mark their lives.
A novel of temptation by the internationally bestselling
author Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym is a
thought-provoking parable of a community devoured by
greed, cowardice, and fear—as it struggles with the
choice between good and evil.
Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything
-- youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a
fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life.
So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of
sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does
-- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has
only days to live.
Inspired by events in Coelho's own life, Veronika
Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and
celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns
society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating,
it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the
crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic,
exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed
opportunity.
Manual
of a Warrior of Light
Click to order via
Amazon
Warrior of the Light: A Manual is an inspirational
companion to The Alchemist, an international bestseller
that has beguiled millions of readers around the world.
Every short passage invites us to live out our dreams,
to embrace the uncertainty of life, and to rise to our
own unique destiny. In his inimitable style, Paulo
Coelho helps bring out the Warrior of the Light within
each of us. He also shows readers how to embark upon the
way of the Warrior: the one who appreciates the miracle
of being alive, the one who accepts failure, and the one
whose quest leads him to become the person he wants to
be. Paulo Coelho is one of the most beloved
storytellers of our time. Now, in the long-awaited
companion to his first novel, Coelho presents a
collection of philosophical stories that will delight
and guide seekers everywhere.
A Struggle of the Spirit and a Search for the Truth
Written with the same masterful prose and clarity of
vision that made The Alchemist an international
phenomenon, The Fifth Mountain is Paulo Coelho's
inspiring story of the Biblical prophet Elijah. In the
ninth century B.C., the Phoenician princess Jezebel
orders the execution of all the prophets who refuse to
seek safety in the land of Zarephath, where the
unexpectedly finds true love with a young widow. But
this newfound rapture is to be cut short, and Elijah
sees all of his hopes and dreams irrevocably erased as
he is swept into a whirlwind of events that threatens
his very existence. In what is truly a literary
milestone, Coelho gives a quietly moving account of a
man touched by the hand of God who must triumph over his
frustrations in a soul-shattering trail of faith.
By
the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of
Forgiveness
Click to order via
Amazon
Paperback: 208
pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Tra edition (May 23, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061122092
ISBN-13: 978-0061122095
From Paulo Coelho, author of the international
bestseller The Alchemist, comes a poignant, richly
poetic story that reflects the depth of love and life.
Rarely does adolescent love reach its full potential,
but what happens when two young lovers reunite after
eleven years? Time has transformed Pilar into a strong
and independent woman, while her devoted childhood
friend has grown into a handsome and charismatic
spiritual leader. She has learned well how to bury her
feelings . . . and he has turned to religion as a refuge
from his raging inner conflicts.
Now they are together once again, embarking on a journey
fraught with difficulties, as long-buried demons of
blame and resentment resurface after more than a decade.
But in a small village in the French Pyrenees, by the
waters of the River Piedra, a most special relationship
will be reexamined in the dazzling light of some of
life's biggest questions.
A Magical Tale About Forgiving Our Past and Believing
in Our Future
The enchanting, true story of The Valkyries begins in
Rio de Janeiro when author Paulo Coelho gives his
mysterious master, J., the only manuscript for his book
The Alchemist. Haunted by a devastating curse, Coelho
confesses to J., "I've seen my dreams fall apart just
when I seemed about to achieve them." In response, J.
gives Coelho a daunting task: He must find and speak
with his guardian angel. "The curse can be broken," he
replies, "if you complete the task."
Rising to the challenge, Paulo and his wife, Cristina,
drop everything, pack their bags, and take off on a
forty day adventure into the starkly beautiful and
sometimes dangerous Mojave Desert--where they encounter
more than they bargained for. A masterful blend of the
exotic locales, dramatic adventure, and magical
storytelling for which Coelho's fictional works are
renowned, this true-life account is at once a modern-day
adventure and a metaphysical odyssey.
Brida, a young Irish girl, has long been interested
in various aspects of magic but is searching for
something more. Her search leads her to people of great
wisdom. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, who
teaches her to trust in the goodness of the world, and a
woman who teaches her how to dance to the music of the
world. As Brida seeks her destiny, she struggles to find
a balance between her relationships and her desire to
become a witch.
This enthralling novel incorporates themes that fans of
Paulo Coelho will recognize and treasure. It is a tale
of love, passion, mystery, and spirituality from the
master storyteller.
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 1 of
11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 2 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 3 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 4 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 5 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 6 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 7 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 8 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 9 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 10 of 11
Paulo Coelho talks
in SECC in Glasgow (18.04.2007) - Part 11 of 11
The
Winner Stands Alone
The
Alchemist
Eleven
Minutes: A Novel
Like a
Flowing River
The
Witch of Portobello
The
Zahir
Life:
Selected Quotations
The
Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation 
Veronika
Decides to Die
Manual
of a Warrior of Light
The
Fifth Mountain
By
the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of
Forgiveness
The
Valkyries
Brida