Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He was born on August 24, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer to which his family was opposed. At 17, Coelho's introversion and opposition to following a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20.

Songwriter

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 becoming immersed in the drug culture of the 1960s. Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter which made him earn a living. In 1974, Coelho was arrested for "subversive" activities by the ruling military government, who had taken power ten years earlier and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.
In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life. On the path, Coelho had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage. In an interview, Coelho stated

"[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in "The Alchemist", I was working, I had a person who I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer."

Succes as a writer

After making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage. The following year, Coelho wrote The Alchemist which has gone on to sell more than 65 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books in history, and has been translated into more than 70 languages.
After this success Paulo Coelho is a strong advocate of spreading his books through peer-to-peer file sharing networks and pirating websites. He even provides free translations of many of his books.