Paulo Coelho

Brazilian novelist and lyricist, author of The Alchemist (1988) — one of the most-translated and most-read books of all time, with over 150 million copies sold across 81 languages. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, his early life included teenage psychiatric institutionalization at his parents' insistence and a period of countercultural experimentation before a 1986 pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago changed his trajectory. The novels that followed — By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Brida, Veronika Decides to Die, The Pilgrimage, Manual of the Warrior of Light — combined accessible storytelling with mystical and esoteric themes drawn from Sufism, Catholic mysticism, alchemy, and his own spiritual experiments. He has become one of the most quoted living authors in the world.