Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho [ Paul and kwɛʎu ] ( born August 24, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian writer and bestselling author.

Life

Childhood and youth

Paulo Coelho was born on 24 August 1947 in Rio de Janeiro in a middle-class Brazilian family, his father Pedro is an engineer, his mother Lydia housewife. He has an older sister named Sonia. Paulo Coelho's religious life was marked from the outset. As a seven year old boy, he attended the Jesuit school of San Ignacio in Rio de Janeiro, where he was awarded a prize in a school poetry competition. Coelho studied law against the wishes of his father, who would have liked to see him in his footsteps as an engineer, but interrupted his studies in 1970 to undertake as a hippie a two-year world tour through South America, North Africa and Europe.

Coelho's subsequent work as a theater and screenwriter as well as his drug use during this time have been condemned by his strict Catholic and conservative parents. His rebellious revolt against the ideas and goals of his parents did believe this, her son was mentally disturbed. A total of three times they left him in the mental hospital "Casa de Saúde Dr. Eiras " instruct (1966, 1967 and 1968 ), where he was also treated with electroconvulsive therapy. The experience of psychiatric inpatient treatment, he later described in his novel Veronika Decides to Die.

1970-1979

Coelho was and is politically active. Together with musician Raul Seixas Coelho was in 1973 a member of the anti-capitalist " alternative society", which advocated freedom and self-determination and were practiced in magic rituals. Coelho was involved in this time for a comic series called " Kring -ha ", which also advocated greater freedom ruled by the military Brazilian state. Due to the possible danger of an opposition formation, the military regime arrested the two men in 1974.

Between the years 1974 and 1976 he wrote provocative lyrics, among others, along with Raul Seixas. It created a total of sixty-five rock songs, which enjoyed great popularity in Brazil. Other articles he wrote for Rita Lee, Elis Regina and Maria Bethânia. Coelho was interested in always for a variety of alternative lifestyles and beliefs, including, inter alia for the ideas and rituals of Hare Krishna and the Wicca. In 1977 he left Brazil and moved with his first wife for a year to London, where he unsuccessfully tried his hand as a writer. After his return to Brazil the following year he worked for three months as a senior executive at the record companies Columbia Broadcasting System and PolyGram. He also had a short time for a music magazine and its own underground magazine as an editor working. He abruptly ended after three months of his professional ambitions and separated from his first wife.

1980-1989

On a trip through Europe Coelho visited with his girlfriend and later second wife, the painter Christina Oiticica, among other things, the concentration camp of Dachau. He reported there to have had a vision in which a man appeared to him that two months later he met in a cafe in Amsterdam. In conversation convinced him this way back to the Catholic faith, and to go on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. From 1980 to 1985 Coelho lived according to its own description withdrawn in a Spanish old order called "tradition" to study the Christian symbolism; also according to his own account, these were an order called "RAM" with Catholic origin, which had been founded in 1492 without official residence. (. RAM = " Regnus Agnus Mundi " This is only under the condition that " Regnus " a proper name is correct Latin, and then that would mean in German " Regnus, the Lamb of the world". ) His commission of the Camino de Santiago 1986 - an experience which he sees as a turning point in his life - and exercises of RAM Coelho processed in the same book on the Camino de Santiago - Diary of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, which appeared a year later.

1988 followed by a second, very different book called The Alchemist. Here he worked eleven years -long extensive alchemical studies in the form of a symbolic text, a parable. From the first edition, however, only nine hundred copies were sold, prompting the publisher parted from him.

But Coelho held on to his dream of becoming a writer, firmly. As a major publisher, Editora Rocco, was interested in his work, was published in 1990 the book Brida. The work took place at the press attention and helped thereby also the other two books to the top of the bestseller lists. The Alchemist was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, as it sold heavily in Brazil.

1990-1999

In May 1993, the American publisher Harper Collins was under the direction of John Loudon with an edition of five thousand copies of the alchemist at the start. This breakthrough in the U.S. stood at the beginning of his worldwide success. In Hollywood, several production companies interested simultaneously for the rights acquired by Warner Brothers in 1993. In various countries, the book reached the bestseller lists and was even inter alia, in France the best-selling book of the year.

In 1994 the book was in Brazil By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept published, which Coelho's strengthened international reputation. In this work, he turned to his feminine side. Two years later he was awarded in Italy with the prestigious awards Super Grinzane Cavour and Flaiano International. With his next novel, The Fifth Mountain, Coelho moved to the publisher Editorial Objetiva. In the same year he was appointed Special Representative of the UNESCO project for intercultural dialogue ( " Convergences spiritual et dialogues inter culturels ").

A year later, his manual of the warrior of light, a collection of allegorical stories and maxims published. Followed in 1998 by the novel Veronika Decides to Die. He completed a successful tour through Asia first, then in the fall, a second by almost all countries of Eastern Europe that began in Istanbul on the Orient Express and took him from the Bulgarian capital Sofia to the Latvian Riga.

With the prestigious Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum in Davos, he was awarded in 1999. That same year, Coelho was taken by the then French minister of culture Philippe Douste-Blazy in the Legion of Honor.

Since 2000

In May 2000, Coelho, at the invitation of the International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations ( International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations ) Iran. In September, his fifth novel was published in The Devil and Miss Prym. In the same year he was elected a member of the Foundation Board of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Coelho received the 2001 Bambi, the most popular German Media Prize. On 25 July 2002 the greatest Brazilian writer for award followed: he was elected member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras honored with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, which has set itself the task, among others, to maintain the Portuguese language. With an inaugural speech in which he called for utopias and a strong faith, he entered on 28 October 2002 at his office in the Academy. In Germany he received in the same year in Frankfurt the Planetary Consciousness Award of the Club of Budapest and Munich International Book Award for Fiction Corine. Earlier this year, Coelho was my first time traveling to China, where he visited Shanghai, Beijing and Nanjing. On the occasion of the International Book Fair of Bogota he traveled for the first time in Colombia, then to Russia, Mexico and in the Scandinavian countries, where he attended among others Tanum, Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm.

In June 2005, the author commented on the occasion of the English presentation of his novel The Zahir his displeasure about the fact that it was the producer of Warner Brothers still have not succeeded in the novel to film, The Alchemist, though the studio had the rights since 1993. Neither wanted the studio the rights to four times the price of the original sale value, ie $ 1 million, selling back to Coelho, yet was accepted there the screenplay draft of the actor and director Laurence Fishburne, the Brazilians had expressly welcomed.

A part of his fortune, he donated in his self- established foundation " Instituto Paulo Coelho ". With an annual budget of four hundred thousand dollars helps Coelho favelas, needy children and old people and supports the translation of Brazilian literature in other languages . He also donated large sums to children's hospitals and other institutions abroad. On 21 September 2007 he was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki -moon to peace ambassador. With his institution Coelho founded together with his wife, the international best-selling author sat for years for the underprivileged section of the population in Brazil.

He currently lives with his wife in Rio de Janeiro and in Tarbes, France, in the immediate vicinity of Lourdes. He describes himself as a fan of the Brazilian national football team.

"Anima Mundi "

Coelho's view of the Anima Mundi, the World Soul, which could be experienced in all phenomena of the world, was coined during his five -year stay in the aforementioned Spanish Order. Coelho is a firm believer of characters that happened to him every day. He interprets them for himself personally as notes and agrees on its further action from. An example is the white feather, which he has to find it before he can begin a new book. This understanding of mysticism characters illustrated by the author in his entire publication.

Coelho's global commitment to tolerance and diversity, his commitment to civil civic engagement and build a better future can be interpreted as immanent and consistent continuation of this way of looking at the world soul.

Works

2000: O Demonio e a Srta Prym.

2003: Onze Minutos.

2005: O Zahir.

2006: Ser Como Rio que o FluI. Relatos ( 1998-2005).

2006: A bruxa de Porto Bello.

2008: Vencedor está só.

2010: O Aleph.

About the works

The books Coelho wear autobiographical; described landscapes and countries he has visited on his travels themselves. Coelho usually writes in a simple, unadorned language. It accepts original symbols, metaphysical elements and Christian mysticism in fairytale parables, parables and fables. He also works always a biblical and spiritual elements in the context. His subjects include always the love for another human being in contrast to the self-love, the search for the meaning of life and the spiritual self-discovery, he makes especially on the wisdom " Realize Your Dream" fixed.

Reception

Worldwide gained fame with Coelho 's novel The Alchemist, which is been published in over 60 languages .

Coelho is one of the ten authors who sold the most books worldwide. The total circulation of its publications was in 2012 at 135 million copies. Meanwhile, numerous audio books to his novels in trade.

The Zahir was confiscated at the 18th International Book Fair of Tehran in Iran without giving reasons.

In September 2006, The Alchemist was in Vienna, the platinum - book, a price in line with the Action The platinum record by the Association of Austrian Booksellers for 50,000 or more copies sold. ( From The Alchemist over 1 million were German -speaking, in Austria alone more than 200,000 copies sold. )

More than 75 million copies of books Paulo Coelho have been reported worldwide and has sold in 150 countries, of which about 30 million of the alchemist. The work of Paulo Coelho has been translated into 62 languages.

Special features of the dissemination of his works

Already 1999, Coelho, the first copies of his books on his website readers available for download. Since 2005, the site operated by " Pirate Coelho " on many of his books are free to download available in several languages , was very popular among various network communities, which they continued public. Since then his work reached a much greater awareness, increased the official sales figures in the bookstores. The classic way of sales thus benefitting from the file sharing option. Publishers have therefore tolerated the download option. Coelho believes that "it would be wiser to take advantage of new technology to support good works and spread. "

Awards

Diploma of Brother Sun Cross Order, Brazil
Services to Human Rights, Brazil
Sarah Kubitscheck Prize, Brazil
Honorary Medal of the City of Paris, France
Price from Ljubljana, Slovenia
Contribution to the 17th book of Istanbul, Turkey
Persepolis Achaemenian soldie, Iran

Golden Medal of Galicia at the St. Jacob (July 25 ) for Coelho's contribution to the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Award of Zagreb, Croatia

The Crystal Mirror Award of Warsaw, Poland

Bambi for Culture, Germany

October 28th member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras, Brazil
Corine - International Book Award for Fiction for The Alchemist, Munich, Germany
Global Consciousness, Literature Prize, France

Official Medal of Arts and Letters, France

Official Medal of Arts and Letters for The Alchemist, United Kingdom
Golden sellers price of the newspaper Vecernje Novosti for the largest publishing distribution, Serbia
Ex - Libris Prize for eleven minutes, Serbia
Honorary northern Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
Order of Saint Sophie, Medal for outstanding contributions in science and art, Ukraine
Golden Nielsen Book Award for The Alchemist, United Kingdom

Hans Christian Andersen Ambassador on the occasion of the 200th birthday of the Danish writer, Denmark
Direct Group International Author Award, Berlin, Germany

Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council for The Zahir
3rd place in the category Literature, Novels, Fiction Prize of the Austrian audience favorite book, for the novel The Zahir, Austria

UN Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki -moon
Hans Christian Andersen Literature Prize

Movies

2011: Paulo Coelho - My Life. Director: Dorothee Binding and Benedict Mirow.
2009: Veronika Decides to Die. Director: Emily Young.

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