Once, a child born in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil was admitted to a mental institution when his parents discovered
that he was an introvert rebel, aspiring to be a writer. It is difficult to control those who express their
rebellion through action, but difficult to contain the rebel minds. After fleeing three times from the institution
he was finally released at the age of twenty.
Going against his wishes, Coelho joined law school but dropped out and began living as a hippie. He travelled
where life took him to, got addicted to drugs, wrote songs, and became an actor, a journalist and a theatre
director before discovering his true passion of becoming a devoted writer.
What makes an all time best-selling Portuguese language author who has his work published in over 71
languages with a widely increasing following say, “My dream was, and still is, to be a writer.”? Be it The
Alchemist (1988), The Valkyries (1992), By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994), Veronika Decides
To Die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), Eleven Minutes(2003),The Zahir (2005), The Witch of
Portobello (2006), Aleph(2010) or the 10 second to 1 minute posts on his blog his stories strike a chord with
teens and adults making them feel as if it’s their unique life picture. And his work paints a different colour
every time one reads it.
What makes the every reader identify himself with Paulo Coelho’s work?
It’s the remarkable journey he has taken, which is a symbol of our life; which is filled with fear of the
unknown, hatred, frequent pangs of depression, of love which we are afraid of expressing, the way we are
pulled back into this ‘civilized’ society time and again, where we are told to ‘keep quiet and stand still’ as
children and participate in workshops to ‘develop our personality’ as adults. In a society which expects you
to behave according to the conventions, where an artist’s freedom of expression is sometimes censored by
politicos, Paulo is a being who wants to experience and express life in his own manner regardless of what
others think. As he says in The Alchemist, “Wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure”. It
seems he has found his.
It is a different matter altogether that he has become a widely read author. It is a paradox of our society
that we seek majority and authority for making things a part of our life. The year was 1999 and the sale of
Russian version of The Alchemist was failing. The publisher dropped him. He posted a digital Russian copy of
“The Alchemist on his website. Today the sales of his books in Russia are over 10 million and growing. The
Paulo Coelho Institute founded by him provides support to children and the elderly.
Paulo’s life is a story of seeing the divine within the dust. While his followers on Twitter will soon cross the
five million mark Paulo continues to write, sharing the song of his life.
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