The Journey of Paulo Coelho

THE JOURNEY OF Paulo Coelho Writing Career - 1947 Born on August 24th, in Rio de Janeiro, to Lydia Didn't start writing books until he was & Pedro. 38. Has written 30 books. - 1954 From the age of 7, attended Jesuit school. - 1963 Committed to a mental institution at 16. Endured electro-shock therapy to cure him of desire to be an artist. During his 20's travelled through South America, North Africa, Mexico and Europe. Writes books in two to four weeks. 3 of them are autobiographical (The Pilgrimage, The Valkyries & Aleph) Learned about secret societies and oriental religions. His work consists of The PILGRIMAGE Dabbled in black magic and became immersed in Brazil's drug culture, bohemian art & music scene. THE VALKYRIIES ALEPH Psychological Dramas Newspaper Became involved in Satanism & Occultism Essays Articles through his work co- writing lyrics with Raul Seixas. 130 MILLION COPIES – 1973 Left the hippie lifestyle and began work in the music industry. Also worked as an actor, journalist and theatre director. – 1974 Joined an anti-capitalist organization called the Alternative Society. Arrested for "subversive activities" by the Brazilian government, and was jailed and tortured. Coelho is the all-time bestselling Portuguese language author. -– 1980 Married Christina Oiticica, an eco-artist. of his books have sold in – 1982 150 COUNTRIES Published his first book, Hell Archives. ( Books and Other Works I The Alchemist - 1986 Walked the Camino de Santiago on the advice of his "master" and underwent spiritual awakening. Brida (1990) - The Valkyries (1992) - By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Lacking a marketing budget, the book gains popularity by word-of-mouth. – 1987 Wrote The Pilgrimage. Wept (1994) The Fifth Mountain (1996) - 1988 Wrote The Alchemist for a small Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997) Brazilian Publishing House. Veronika Decides to Die (1998) Eventually over The Devil and Miss Prym, (2000) - 1989 65 MILLION Started a personal publicity campaign with his wife - going to theatres, bars, cinemas, bookstores, giving away the book for free. - Eleven Minutes (2003) - The Zahir (2005) - The Witch of Portobello (2006) - The Winner Stands Alone (2008) copies have been sold and translated into 71 LANGUAGES making it the most translated book by a living author. It has also been on the NY Times Bestseller list for over The Alchemist didn't sell and publishing house decided not to reprint after 900 copies; Found another publishing house, after Brida was published, the book became a bestseller in Brazil, 500,000 copies sold in the first -1990 Coelho also has a weekly column which is published in several Brazilian newspapers and is syndicated internationally. 200 WEEKS year. ( Common Themes, Motifs and Symbols American Alan Clarke, fluent in Portuguese, offers to translate The Pilgrimage. Clarke starts a campaign to find a US publisher. Despite low sales of this book, HarperCollins published The Alchemist in an initial run of 50,000 Fate vs Willpower Omens Love Personal Legends copies-which sold out in two months. Luck The Soul of the World Spiritual enlightenment * Magic Realism - 1992 Wrote The Valkyries, an autobiographical tale of meeting angels, demons and warrior women. - 2000 Was the first non-muslim writer officially invited to Iran since 1979. -2007 Named Messenger of Peace to the UN. 2 Paulo Coelho's Influences - 2008 Harvey Weinstein announced purchase of the rights to film The Alchemist, with Laurence Fishburne set to direct. Henry Miller Sufism The Bible Released Aleph - a personal story of self-discovery, meeting a woman he loved 500 years before. In it he narrates his 2006 journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, when he travelled 9,258 kilometres -2011 A mysterious Jewish businessman, J" Aleister Crowley Kahlil Gibran Jorge Luis Borges between Europe and Asia. Gabriel Garcia Marquez * William Blake One Thousand and Carlos Castaneda One Nights A Warrior of Light { Other Interesting Facts Paulo Coelho is actually very shy, and hates talking in front of an audience. Messenger of Peace for the UN Ambassador to the European Union for Intercultural Dialogue When he sees a white feather (which he takes as a sign from God), he begins writing. In 2003, Reuters ranked him among the world's Member of the Board of the Shimon three most successful writers of our time. Peres Institute for Peace 1И Practices Kyudo, a meditative form of archery. UNESCO Special Counselor for "Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual Convergences" Coelho is a Social Media power-user with more followers than Madonna! Board Member of the Schwab Foundation for Coelho was one of the first authors to make his Social Entrepreneurship own books available online for free. "IfI were to synthesize my work, I would say: live your Personal Legend, pay the price of your dreams, read the omens, awaken your feminine side, and dare to be different." -Paulo Coelho Twitter: @Voxy Blog: Voxy.com/blog Sources: http://paulocoelhobooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/alchemist-themes-motifs-and-symbols.html http://paulocoelhoblog.com/books/Magic-Realist-Transformations-in-Paulo-Coelho pdf http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3643720/A-mystery-even-to-himself.html http://www.whitehouse gov/the-press-office/2011/03/20/remarks-president-people-brazil-rio-de-janeiro-brazil http://arashhejazi.com/en/2009/06/alchemy-of-the-alchemist/ http://www.santjordi-asociados.com/news.htm VOXY LEARN A LANGUAGE FROM LIFE