Paulo Coelho

"It says that we need a minute to notice a special person, an hour to appreciate it, a day to love it, but then a whole life to forget it" (Paulo Coelho). This is just one of many famous quotes written by this renowned writer. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit School. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer but because his opposition to following a traditional path, his parents commiting him to a mental instituition from wich he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. At his parents wishes, Coelho enrolled in a law school but one year later, he dropped out and life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Europe, and becoming to Brazil Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas. He also worked as an actor, journalist and theatre director before pursuing his writing carreer. The diversity of people, places and emotions is also feature in Paulo Coelho's writing. He is the author of "The Alchemist", a book that record holder as the book with the highest number of translations in the world, and it was bestseller in many of this countries including Mandarin that reached number 1 among bestsellers in Dangdang, the largest on-line bookstore in China.

An interview with Paulo Coelho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2RvgpCie4