One of my favorite writers - I have read his Alchemist three times and continue to be fascinated by its allegories and hidden messages.
It's the birthday of Brazilian author Paulo Coelho (books by this author), born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947. When he told his parents that he wanted to be a writer, they had him committed (briefly) to a mental institution. In 1970, he dropped out of law school and traveled all over South America, Mexico, Europe, and North Africa; when he returned to Brazil two years later, he worked as a lyricist for several Brazilian pop stars, and in 1974, he did a brief stint in jail for alleged subversive activities against the government.
In 1980, he returned to Europe, and walked the entire 500-mile Santiago de Compostela route first trod by pilgrims in the Middle Ages. He described the journey as a turning point: "It was then that I, who had dedicated most of my life to penetrate the 'secrets' of the universe, realized that there are no secrets. Life is and will always be a mystery." He also became interested in Catholicism again after rejecting it as a young man; these experiences inspired his 1987 book, The Diary of a Magus, which was reissued as The Pilgrimage in 1995. Many of his books, both fiction and nonfiction, deal with themes of mysticism and religion.
He wrote, "If I must fall, may it be from a high place."
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