I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death. They thought nobody can make a living from being a writer in Brazil. They were not wrong.

One year later he dropped out and lived life as a hippie traveling through South America North Africa Mexico and Europe and started drugs in the 1960s. Paulo Coelho (Portuguese: [ˈpawlu kuˈeʎu]; born August 24 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. As a teenager Coelho wanted to become a writer.

He has become one of the most widely read authors in the world today. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards amongst them the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum and France's Légion d'honneur.