Tiffany Maisonave Nov. 10, 2010
Sariah McCoy Gr: 7/ Rm: 247 Biography of Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 24, 1947. Before becoming the most widely published Brazilian author of all time–publishing close to 100 million books, Coelho worked as a theatre director, an actor and a journalist. In the 1970's, Coelho was also a successful songwriter whose songs were sung by such well-known Brazilian singers as Elis Regina, Rita Lee and, most notably, Brazilian psychadelic rock pioneer Raul Seixas. Seixas and Coelho recieved wide commercial and critical acclaim for their songs "Eu Nasci Há Dez Mil Anos Atrás," "Gita," "Al Capone" as well as 60 other songs. Also during this time, Coelho travelled the world as part of the hippy movement and became more and more interested in Eastern religions as well as occultism in general. This is a image of Paulo Coelho. The place is unknown.

“When I was young, my parents sent me to a mental institution three times (1966, 1967, and 1968). The reasons in my medical files are banal. It was said that I was isolated, hostile and miserable at school. I was not crazy but I was rather just a 17-year-old who really wanted to become a writer. Because no one understood this, I was locked up for months and fed with tranquilizers. The therapy merely consisted of giving me electroshocks. They were intended to clear the uppermost layer of my memory in order to bring peace to my head. I promised to myself that one day I would write about this experience, so young people will understand that we have to fight for our own dreams from a very early stage of our lives.” -Paulo Coelho In 1974 Coelho and Gisa, his girlfriend at the time, were kidnapped and interrogated by a Brazilian commando group, suspected of being left-wing sympathisers in a dictatorship. What happened after their kidnapping is still so swathed in mystery that in 2007, when he turned sixty, Coelho still had many unanswered questions.