Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho de Souza

Вorn 24 August 1947 is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. His novel The Alchemist has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide and is the all-time best-selling book by a Brazilian writer .He influenced Brazilian rock music through his partnership with the musician Raul Seixas.

Biography

Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and attended a Jesuit school. At 17, Coelho's parents committed him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. Coelho later remarked that "It wasn't that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do... They did not do that to destroy me, they did that to save me." At his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream of becoming a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and started using drugs in the 1960s. Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas. Composing with Raul led to Coelho being associated with magic and occultism, due to the content of some songs.