Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro in Agust 1947. His family was rather strict y disciplined. And he was quite rebel, so they interned him up to three times in a mental institution before he was 17 for trying to "moderate" his personality.
But his free spirit prevented him from following the same path that others had decided for him. He started to study law, but he abandoned in the 60s, influenced by the hippie culture. He went to travel all over the world, through America, Europe, and Africa. He was traveling for two years, and when he returned, he started to write song lyrics.
He also worked as journalist, scriptwriter, theater director, executive in the music company Polygram, and directed the Express Underground newspaper.
In 1974 he was sent to jail, accused of subversive activities against the Brazilian government.
He got married with the painter Christina Oiticica. With her, he traveled to Holland and met a man called Jean that introduced Coelho to the RAM (Regnus Agnus Mundi) fraternity. It is a religious catholic group that has its origins in the Medieval Spain.
Jean became Coelho's spiritual guide. Coelho was appointed knight of the RAM order.
He wrote "The Pilgrimage", inspired in his religious experiences with the RAM, after his pilgrimage through the Road of Santiago. After this book, he wrote "The Alchemist" (1988), "Brida" (1990), "The Valkyries"... and so many books that made him be recognized universally as a well-known writer.
"The Alchemist" was named book of the year by the Library Association of USA. In Paris he was given the Legion d'Honneur decoration, one of the highest of France. He serves as Special Counsellor for Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual Convergences for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). And is also member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
In addition, he has an endless list of awards and decorations, but without a doubt, his best award are his readers and his thousands of followers all over the world.
He got all this due to his unforgettable, poetic, emotional, deep and philosophic style of writing.
One of the keys of the success of Paulo Coelho are his famous and full of wisdom quotes, with which Coelho makes you think about the different facets of life.
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1 comments:
Thank you very much Aart Hilal. I admire very much the work of Paulo Coelho. Without a doubt I will drop by his website.
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