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Page 1: 25-årsjubileum for Pilegrimsreisen

25th ANNIVERSARY

The Pilgrimage PAULO COELHO

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impressionsluminosity reading adventureencounter spiritual sense of ‘pilgrimagrebirth moving fulfi lment essentialhappiness is possible dazzling revealingpersonal and profound inspiring motivation a call for inner changea beautifully written manual on lifeuniversality a timeless novel touchingwhat matters is the journey itself magan invitation to discover our own persfaith a fresh and inimitable voice couremotions an unconventional travel boa journey towards humility joy an unexrevelations a study of psychology andan uplifting tale of spiritual quest comstimulating meaning of life illuminatian exotic journey into the soul guidandiscovering our inner potential exciteserenity motivation knowledge passionfeelings a liberating pause in all the buwe can change our destiny a path of wi

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twenty-five years

of the p ilgrim

I stumbled across O Diário de um Mago [The Diary of a Ma-gus] quite by accident. It was 1993 and I was in Los Angeles exploring a world of books very different from the main-stream of the time. A literary agent friend of mine mentioned a Brazilian author who stood

out from all the others. I noted down the name: Paulo Coelho.

This was an odd situation, because here was an American literary agent recommending a Brazilian author whom he didn’t represent and who had, up until then, only been pub-lished in Portuguese.

Shortly after returning to Buenos Aires, I asked an acquaintance who was about to visit Brazil to bring me back a copy of The Diary of a Magus and The Alchemist. I still have those small-format books with their black, rather esoteric covers, which did not,

I felt, refl ect the sheer luminosity of the stories contained within.

I failed in my attempts to acquire the translation rights for those books by Paulo, but imagine my surprise when Planeta – the publishing house I work for – acquired Editorial Martínez Roca, and with them came the con-tract for The Diary of a Magus. Shortly afterwards, I published the fi rst edition in Argentina. It was slow to sell, but the seed was sown.

That was when Mônica Antunes got in touch with me and we began a working relationship that has lasted ever since. I published Brida, and when, in 1995, the moment came to launch By the River Piedra I Sat Down

and Wept, I suggested relaunching The

Diary of a Magus under the title El

Peregrino [The Pilgrim], taking my inspiration from the title HarperCol-lins had chosen for the English trans-lation, The Pilgrimage.

Every new book published by Paulo since then has been a huge success, topping the best-seller lists and with millions of copies sold. I’ve always remembered, however, that I only stumbled on The Pilgrim by accident, or was I perhaps looking for it…

‘On the path of life, we will always fi nd problems that are hard to resolve. That is when you need to let your Creative Imagination take over.’The Pilgrimage

‘The only way to make the right decision is by knowing which is the wrong decision and by examining the other path without fear or dread, and then deciding.’The Pilgrimage

Ricardo SabanesInternational Publishing Director

Editorial Planeta

encounter on a french terrace

It was in the beginning of the nineties – I was on holiday in France – and I had a bag full of books that I wanted to read. The title of one of these books was The Pilgrimage, by Paulo Coelho. I didn’t know the author, the book was a French translation, the story was set in the Pyrenees, and I thought Paulo was French!

I remember sitting on a lovely terrace in the shadow of a beautiful plane tree, drinking my coffee, reading Pau-lo’s book… After a while, a man walked towards me, he sat down at a table next to mine and ordered a cr-oissant and an espresso. After a few minutes he put on his sunglasses and took a book out of his backpack. I didn’t see it immediately, but when he put his book on the table to take a bite from his crois-sant, I recognised the name of the author and the title of the book: he was reading the same book! I was reading it in French, he in Eng-lish! Of course, we started talking about The Pilgrimage. The English-

man wasn’t just reading the book, he was also on the road to Santiago. He explained to me why he had chosen to do so and reading Paulo’s book he recognised a lot of his own feelings, thoughts and reasons. ‘The story of this book’, he said, ‘is also my own story’.

I have been the publisher of Paulo’s books in the Netherlands since 2001. We still sell The Pilgrim-age and the book is find-ing more readers every day; readers looking for adventure, not only by ex-ploring the Road to Santia-go, but also in the spiritual sense of the word. And now and then I hear readers say that reading The Pil-grimage helps them recognize their own story. At such moments I think of that encounter on the terrace, in the shadow of the plane tree and I remember vividly the chat I had with the Englishman who was read-ing the same book.

I am sure The Pilgrimage will find many more readers: people who are determined to find their own road to fulfilment.

Lex JansenPublishing DirectorDe Arbeiderspers/A.W. Bruna Publishers

ARGENTINA THE NETHERLANDS

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In Korea, Paulo Coelho has been one of the best-loved foreign authors of

the last 10 years. Munhak-dongne has published a book by Paulo Coelho every year, and many Korean readers have fallen in love with Pau-lo’s works, so full of magical, resonant words, and enjoyed many happy hours of reading.

Paulo walked the Road to Santiago, one of the most beautiful journeys in the world, and wrote The Pil-grimage, thus beginning his new career as a writer, which

had, until then, been only a dream. Most of all, The Pilgrimage

tells us that the extraordinary lies on the path taken by ordinary people, and, when we published the book in 2006, that idea brought great hope and courage to many Korean readers.

Readers have made comments such as: ‘My heart beat faster while read-ing the book, which took me on a pilgrimage into the unknown’; ‘I felt like I was walking alongside the au-thor’; ‘I will always keep this book with me’; and ‘The Pilgrimage is en-tirely about rebirth.’ One of the re-views said: ‘I walked the Road to Santiago a few years ago… walked alone in the dark, I had no light, but

I did not turn back, and that experi-ence helped me to survive difficult times later on… whether you’ve been to Santiago or not, The Pilgrimage will offer you real enlightenment. We are all pilgrims in Life.’ Indeed, the Road to Santiago was almost un-known to Koreans until Paulo intro-duced it to them. Among Korean travellers, The Pilgrimage is called the Bible of the Road to Santiago. All travellers on the Road, setting off to find their own self, probably carry a sentence from The Pilgrimage in their hearts.

In 2011, along with Aleph, Munhak-dongne released a new edition of The Pilgrimage. As Paulo says in Aleph: ‘Together we write the Book of Life, our every encounter determined by fate and our hands joined in the belief that we can make a difference in this world.’ It may be because of fate that we meet and read certain books. I hope and believe that fate will lead many more people to encounter The Pilgrim-age and find valuable lessons in it on their own pilgrimage through life.

Congratulations on the 25th anniver-sary of The Pilgrimage.

Byoung-sun KangCEO

Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.

san giacomo, paulo and me

To start with it’s mainly a question of dates. In 1987, Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage was published. Today, 2012, is the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication and eleven years since the Italian translation was pub-lished by Bompiani, entitled Il Cam-mino di Santiago, in September 2001, a fateful date for the West. Since then, with over 30 editions, it has sold more than 600,000 copies. But it’s not just a question of dates. There’s something more - much more. This work by Paulo is one that doesn’t fade with time; it stays in the hearts of its read-ers. The ‘Pilgrimage’ is the transfigu-ration of the real pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela made by Paulo in a quest to reach the source of his inspiration and the foundations of his ethical, religious and artistic commitment. In the book, the jour-ney, taken in initiatory stages, is a path of wisdom which gives readers worldwide the possibility, by retracing those stages, of finding that same ‘light’ that Paulo found in a particular moment of his existence. I would like to underline two points. The first con-cerns ‘ordinary people’, everyday peo-ple: Paulo is addressing them, and this I believe is both the origin and the simple, decisive explanation for his international fame. That individual awareness, that inner strength since time immemorial, we can all draw on, and authentic literature shows that this possibility is ever present, eter-nally present, I’d say. The other point

consists, I believe, in the fact that books like The Pilgrimage enrich our way of intending fiction. Not only communication and story-telling but also first-person accounts by the author who puts himself on the line alongside his readers.

Then there are secret bonds between myself and Paulo’s Pilgrimage, that I like to remember, concerning O Diário de um Mago, his first book, which was im-mediately followed by The Alchimist, the book with which Paulo introduced himself to Italian readers, published by Bompiani in 1995. ‘La concha’, or the scallop shell of St James, has been the symbol of the pilgrimage to the town of Santiago de Compostela since the Middle Ages, and St. James is also the patron saint of the small town of Ro Fer-rarese, where I spent my childhood and where my parents still live, whose feast day is 25th July, the month in which I signed the contract for L’Alchimista, thanks to my friend and Paulo’s literary agent Mônica Antunes. At this point I’d say it all fits. It must be the secret correspond-ence that Baudelaire talks about and that I think about several times in the bottom of my heart, to myself (there are several more of these correspond-ences between Paulo and me, which are related also to my parents, but I keep them for myself). Poetry applied to our destinies.

Elisabetta Sgarbi PublisherBompiani

KOREA ITALY

‘Don’t try to be brave when it is enough to be intelligent.’The Pilgrimage

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happiness is possible

‘Happiness is possible.’ That is the prize waiting at the end of the road, the message which, for centuries now, every pilgrim has received when he or she reaches the Plaza del Obradoiro in San-tiago de Compostela, a mes-sage that Paulo Coelho made his own in 1986, for in San-tiago, he realised that his journey, as well as ending, was also just beginning. A

year later, he published his first book, The Pilgrimage.

Twenty-five years on, that book has become an obligatory reference point for anyone deciding to set off along the Road to Santiago for the first time, and its world-wide publi-cation was a decisive factor in the increased number of pilgrims arriv-ing from all points of the globe. It is hardly surprising, then, that Paulo

should have been invited to sign the book for honoured guests in the town hall in Santiago de Compos-tela or that he should have a street named after him in the barrio of San Marcos, next to - can you guess? - the Calle del Peregrino – the Street of the Pilgrim. Where else?

‘Dazzling’, ‘revealing’, ‘essential’, ‘moving’, ‘magical’. These are just some of the enthusiastic, heartfelt words left on social networking sites, internet forums and web pages by Spanish-speaking readers from around the world. And there have now been well over one hundred Spanish editions of The Pilgrimage.

The twenty-fifth anniversa ry of the book is a real milestone, and the number of new readers drawn to The Pilgrimage each year is further proof that the book’s message is as valid now as it was then. As publish-ers of Paulo’s work, we feel proud to have been part of that journey and are still excited by the idea that what matters is not reaching your destination, but the journey itself.

‘When someone wants something then they should be aware that they are taking a risk. But this is precisely what makes life interesting.’The Pilgrimage

Marcela SerrasDeputy Director

Editorial Planeta

As Paulo often says, if you believe in something with all your heart, nothing can stop you from achieving your goal. This statement perfectly encapsulates his own personal jour-ney to inner fulfilment, as Paulo’s lifelong dream of becoming a writer eventually came true: First he took the road to Santiago de Compostela, then he wrote about it.

Daniel Keel, who founded Diogenes Verlag in 1952, did not have to walk miles and miles to become Paulo’s publisher, but it was certainly no easy task. The Alchemist had already been published in G ermany – yet strange-ly without much success. After a year of negotiations and a great deal of effort and conviction, Daniel Keel finally secured the German transla-tion rights. In a new hardcover edi-tion and a completely revised transla-tion The Alchemist took the German bestseller lists by storm and reigned supreme for ten years, selling more than 2 million copies.

There was a strong mutual bond between the author and his pub-lisher right from the start: Daniel Keel believed in the success of Pau-lo’s books in Germany – and Paulo believed in Daniel Keel as a pub-lisher and a friend. And perhaps the road to Santiago can be seen as a symbol of the path that Diogenes and Paulo shared. Daniel Keel was born in Einsiedeln, one of the oldest pilgrimage sites in Switzerland, the origins of which date back to the 11th century. During the Middle Ages, Einsiedeln was an important stop-over for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. When

Keel and I went to visit his home-town Einsiedeln a few years ago, we went to one of the largest pri-vate libraries in Switzer-land, with more than 50 000 books, the Bibliothek Werner Oechslin, which is located not far from the famous monastery and Daniel Keel’s birthplace. The building was designed by the architect Mario Botta, who deliberately placed the library on the axis of the Road to San-tiago de Compostela. Af-ter all, the books show the way.

In 1999, The Pilgrimage was pub-lished by Diogenes with immense success, and a million copies have been sold to date. If one were to line up all of Paulo’s Diogenes copies in a row, more than 10 million in total, they would cover a distance of 987 kilometres, nearly twice the distance between Einsiedeln in Switzerland and Santiago de Compostela. That’s quite a journey!

In 2011, Barack Obama visited Paulo’s home country of Brazil. In a speech given there, he said: ‘It’s why we believe, in the words of Paulo Coelho, one of your most famous writers, “With the strength of our love and our will, we can change our destiny, as well as the destiny of many others.”’ With his books Pau-lo really did change his readers’ paths in life. The journey continues and Diogenes is proud to walk next to Paulo.

Daniel KampaMember of the Board of DirectorsDiogenes Verlag

SPAIN SWITZERLAND

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The Pilgrimage, for me, remains one of Paulo’s most personal and pro-found works. It is hard to believe that already twenty-five years have passed since Paulo wrote the book and twen-ty-six since he first walked the way of St James, following an instinct and discovering his destiny as a writer who would leads many millions of others to, in turn, discover their own.

HarperCollins was fortunate enough to bring this amazing book to Eng-lish language readers worldwide two decades ago, five years after its first publication, and we are still overwhelmed by the response.

The sales built by word of mouth and grew and grew across all of our ter-ritories and copies have sold every week, year in and year out, defying prevailing consumer trends. Very quickly, The Pilgrimage established itself as a classic and wonderful gift. We always see an increase toward Christmas, when readers of The Pil-grimage buy this for others, hoping the New Year brings new discoveries. The response to this book and to Paulo’s work is deep and passionate. I recall one book signing in central London, when the fans were so ar-dent the booksellers had to shut the metal gate at the front of the shop to make sure we didn’t break fire regu-lations and swarm the store.

I think Paulo’s work touches fans because he writes with complete honesty and integrity and amazing simplicity about his own experience, sharing the very deepest and most profound revelations and thereby inviting readers to discover their

own truths, their own destinies and their own ‘personal legend’.

Many readers over the years have written in to express their thanks or share how this book galvanised their own metaphysical or literal pilgrimage, many people walking the whole Way of the Pilgrim themselves. The readers tell powerful sto-ries of quitting jobs, leav-ing bad relationships, start-ing creative projects, finding new love by learn-ing the language of the heart, and discovering rich-ness and meaning never before known.

I have only walked part of the way, from Paris to Chartres, but was touched by what I found: the memo-ry of the farmers along the route help-ing pilgrims and offering us water to drink and even a cave to sleep in one night. And of course the moment at the end of the walk, seeing the spire of the cathedral emerge from the land-scape and feeling a sense of celebra-tion, relief and a kind of revelation. Even now, more than a decade later, I remember the sweetness coupled with the weariness of foot.

I send Paulo warmest congratula-tions on this important anniversary. My birthday wish for this book is that it keeps inspiring a new genera-tion of readers to find their own way and be curious about life and willing to take risks, so that they too can ‘arrive at the right moment at the place where someone awaits them’.

Carole TonkinsonPublisher for HarperNonFictionHarperCollins

I appreciate that Paulo Coelho’s book The Pilgrimage convincingly portrays his personal experience of the journey to Compostela in such a compelling

manner. The fact that human existence has a meaning and everyone has the task of searching for and completing their mission is the major message of the book. The Pilgrimage is a spiritual testimony and a beautifully written manual on life!

Below is a letter by a Czech reader to Argo.

Dear publisher,

I do not know whether my

story will be of interest to you,

but it is so remarkable that I

simply must share it with you.

Thanks a lot for publishing

books by Paulo Coelho in such

a beautiful presentation and

excellent translation. There is

everything in them.

When I finally set out on my pilgrim-

age to Santiago de Compostela, it was

2003 and I had a copy of The Pilgrim-

age in my backpack, which I had been

given as a Christmas gift by my friends.

I was very pleased by the book; Paulo

Coelho is one of my favourite authors.

I planned my journey exactly in line

with the book so I was in Saint-Jean-

Pied-de-Port on June 1st, the same as

the Magician. I started to make notes

in the book confessing to it my feelings

during the pilgrimage.

Everything went according to the plan

until I reached Castrojeriz and, actu-

ally, a full more day after that. How-

ever, when I came to the dormitory in

the evening and wanted to pull out my

book and read it, I discovered that

there was everything in the bag except

for the book. I was horrified, I was

desperate, but I had to put up with it

and accept that this was some kind of

a sign. I was just halfway to my desti-

nation and I was to get there on my

own although the book was really my

best friend.

I completely forgot about the lost book

after the years but then something in-

credible happened. My daughter, who

was eleven at the time of my pilgrim-

age, grew up, got married and gave

birth to my first grandson. After the

baptism, he was given gifts, as the tra-

dition goes. Among them, there was

also a book that caught my attention.

It was exactly The Pilgrimage! A friend

of my son-in-law gave it to his godson

so that he might always have strong

guidance on his life’s journey.

I took the book in my hands nostalgi-

cally and, after having opened it, I was

stunned. In the book, there were my

notes and, from the middle of the pil-

grimage, there were some other notes

written by another hand! It turned out

that the son-in-law’s set out on his pil-

grimage in the same year; he was sev-

enteen at that time, and he was given

the book by a lady, a member of the

local staff, who had found out it was

in Czech in the meantime. The book

helped him a lot, as it did to me. And,

one day, it will certainly help also my

grandson, little Jakub.

Letter by a Czech reader to Argo

CZECH REPUBLIC UK

Milan GelnarDirector

Nakladatelství ARGO

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By the time The Pilgrimage was first published in a proper Russian trans-

lation in 2006, I had already read many of Paulo’s books, including his most famous ones like The Alchemist, Ve-ronika Decides to Die and The Zahir. And yet there was still a feeling of expectation surrounding the long-await-ed Russian translation of The Pilgrimage, a book surround-ed by legends and rumours.

I remember my first intense impression of the Road itself. It seemed to me that I could

smell the grass and hear the sounds of rain and birds. These pag-es were so vivid, so powerful and touching that I immediately felt a desire to get up and set off on my own journey, to see all those marvels with my own eyes, to meet those peo-ple, and just walk and walk and walk beneath that sky.

The Pilgrimage is an autobiographi-cal novel, which helps the reader understand the beginning of the au-thor’s journey and of the whole Pau-

lo Coelho phenomenon. It is a very honest account of a man setting out on a journey and shows us how mak-ing a very personal decision can lead you anywhere, ultimately to your true self. It tells us how difficult it can be to struggle not so much with the world, but with your own fears, and how hard it can be to move on and believe both in your fate and in your-self. The Pilgrimage also gives the reader a unique sense of satisfaction and confidence, and even if you al-ready know the end of the story, it still surprises you, like an unexpected gift.

I have read many readers’ comments, most of which express that same feel-ing of excitement. Here are a couple of them:

‘His first and probably his most mov-ing book.’ tatiana

‘A very unusual book. You don’t just read it, you live it. It makes you think about your life in a new way. A bril-liant work.’alexander

RUSSIA

Katia PanchenkoProject Director

Astrel

Dear Paulo,

On the occasion of the 25th a nni-versary of the publication of The Pilgrimage, there are several points I could emphasize. First and fore-most, however, let me congratulate you, along with your wonderful team, on this special moment. As we celebrate this milestone, we at Har-perCollins would like to express our enthusiasm and gratitude to be a part of your journey. We are hon-ored and thrilled with this opportu-nity to look back at some of our fondest memories to date.

It is noteworthy that The Pilgrimage embodies those aspects of your writ-ing that I have come to know and respect most as a publisher. I am re-ferring to its universality, both in its spatial scope and timely message. Just a few weeks ago, I found myself once again engaged in a conversa-tion with one reader whose life was different because of this important work. I shared my perspective as publisher; he shared his story about how The Pilgrimage had led him straight to Santiago—an experience he shared with his brother with whom he was able to establish a real connection for the very first time. The fact that he shared this deeply spiritual journey with me, a stranger

whom he had just met, is a case in point. For me, this is what The Pil-grimage is all about. Like the sages and warriors you have written about over the years, its message is strong and clear. We all have a path in front of us, waiting to be discovered if we seek it. In this era of globalization, our need for this message is only in-creasing further.

For this reason, I want to praise your willingness to, through the process of your writing, bring into the globalized world those who have been left out. Those who have been seeking universal lessons in coun-tries around the world. And those whose lives you have transported and transformed.

I am certain that you will continue to de liver major contributions to our global community over the 25 years to come and hope to celebrate many more milestones together.

For now, as I look back at our part-nership to this day, I want to leave you with these words, which I can-not emphasize enough: Thank you.

Mark Tauber Senior Vice President, PublisherHarperOne

US

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‘We always have a tendency to see those things that do not exist and to be blind to the great lessons that are right there before our eyes.’The Pilgrimage

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Even though I was quite young when I read Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage,

I immediately realised that I was holding a book that was truly unique. It was the extraordi-nary tale of a journey along the legendary road to Santia-go, but more than that, it was the story of a hero who was not afraid to discover his own reason for living.

In this novel, Paulo is not say-ing that we should be perfect, rather, he believes that what matters is having the ability or the courage to learn and to change, and that feelings of

failure or fear are inevitable. That’s why there is no difference be-tween Paulo and his mentor Petrus. Neither man is superior to the other.

They are companions on this incred-ible journey and experience the ex-citement, serenity and joy together.

It isn’t hard to see why Paulo is one of the best-loved authors of our times. He opens his heart to every reader and shares his valuable experi-ences with them honestly.

25 years ago, The Pilgrimage came into people’s lives like a gift. It still inspires many readers to discover their inner potential and make a dif-ference to their lives. Every reader whose path crosses The Pilgrimage takes from it a sense of hope and the pleasure of new challenges that give meaning to life and encourage them to find their own faith.

Giota LivaniPresident

Livanis Publishing Organization

Can OzGeneral Director

Can Yayinlari

our most successful author‘Who is your number 1 bestselling writer?’ – Paulo Coelho asked four-teen years ago during his first visit to Bulgaria. The Alchemist had been published by Obsidian 2 years earlier and had sold 4,000 books, which was a satisfactory result for a small coun-try of 7 million. ‘John Grisham,’ we said. ‘I hope some day I’ll be among your top five authors,’ Paulo said modestly. Now he is the only contem-porary writer with over half a million copies sold in Bulgaria.

There are many books about the 100 places one should visit before one dies. However, there are few good ‘travel books’ about the most impor-

tant destination one should by all means visit – one’s soul. The Pilgrim-age is such a unique illuminating work, told honestly and movingly, a sincere account of the spiritual character of a journey along a centuries-old pilgrimage route – to Santiago de Compostela.

It has been 25 years since the publicatio n of this book that marks the beginning of Paulo’s commitment to de-scribe his personal experi-ence with soul-searching. The quest for spirituality is the greatest megatrend of our era and Paulo Coelho has an eye for the important trends of our time. He tells moral tales without be-ing a dogmatic preacher.

It’s amazing to t hink that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of The Pilgrimage. China Times Publishing Company pub-lished it in 1999, two years after we had introduced The Alchemist to Tai-wanese readers, who have known Paulo Coelho for 25 years now and love him very much.

As with The Alchemist, Paulo takes us to a far-away land in this incredi-ble account of his journey along the

Road to Santiago. Reading the book made me feel almost as if I were there, so much so that I hope to make the journey myself one day.

We are going to publish his Aleph this year, and that’s a good way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the pub-lication of The Pilgrimage too.

Dimitrina Kondeva PublisherObsidian Press

Lynn ChenEditor-in-chiefChina Times Publishing Company

GREECE

TURKEY

Paulo Coelho is one of the most suc-cessful authors on Livanis’ list, with

all of his books being huge be-stsellers. His value as an au-thor and as a person is be-yond price.

As far as The Pilgrimage is concerned, I personally be-lieve that, together with The Alchemist, it transformed the way younger generations think.

Over the years, Paulo has be-come a symbol in our country and a reference point in the world of publishing, market-

ing, advertising and culture.

The people of Greece, especially in these very hard times, need hope, enlightenment, a refuge, and Paulo’s book provided that. The Pilgrimage is an important example of how someone found his soul, his destiny, his motivation. I hope that all of us will find inspiration in his personal life and in his work and make our own ‘Pilgrimage’.

Thank you, Paulo, for everything you have done and for all that you intend to do in the future!

BULGARIA

TAIWAN

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the pil grimage – twenty-

fi ve years on

I first met Paulo Coelho in November 2002, when he was guest of honour at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara in Mexico. By then, he was already an inter-national bestseller, but, at the time, I had only read The Devil and Miss Prym. Seeing

the faces of thousands of excited readers, some of whom had travelled hundreds of miles to meet him was enough to convince me that Paulo was different from other writers: he had managed to break down the bar-rier between author and reader. This was a phenomenon I felt I had to un-derstand.

I began with his first book, The Pil-grimage, which I read at one sitting.

I understood then why this book was so important to his subsequent career. Paulo had reached a critical stage in his life and, in The Pilgrimage, he fi-nally found his voice as a writer. That voice allowed him to write a timeless work, in which every landscape, eve-ry character, every test along the way is imbued with his courage, faith and determination to give meaning to his search. In this first novel, the author reveals his most human side: his fears, his inner demons, his apprenticeship. Through parables, he encourages readers not just to follow their own path, but to struggle to give that path meaning in their own lives and to cre-ate their own personal legend.

I have followed Paulo’s work for ten years now and I know how pro-foundly he touches his readers’ hearts. The Pilgrimage is a very spe-cial book, not only because it was his first book, but because it is clear proof that he found his personal meaning of life. Happy 25th Anniver-sary!

‘When we renounce our dreams, we fi n d peace and enjoy a brief period of tranquillity, but the dead dreams begin to rot inside us and to infect the whole atmosphere in which we live. What we hoped to avoid in the Fight - disappointment and defeat - become the sole legacy of our cowardice.’The Pilgrimage

‘When you travel towards your objective, be sure to pay attention to the path. The path teaches us the best way to arrive and enriches us while we are travelling along it.’The Pilgrimage

Pilar GordoaMarketing and Production Director

Random House Mondadori

the extraordinary is waiting to be revealed on the path taken by ordinary people

The Pilgrimage was first brought out by the Hungarian publishing house Athenaeum in 2005. Twelve print runs later, ‘the book that start-ed it all’ is still a huge success among Hungarian readers.

This work is different from the au-thor’s later books in that it is a de-scription of his personal experience and, as such, both an autobiography and a useful travelling companion for the pilgrim. In a way, this book is where it all began for Paulo the Writer, because his experience of walking the Road to Santiago led him deep into his innermost self and brought about important changes in his life. Everything that Paulo had known to be true was transformed by the recognition of that most natu-ral and simple of truths: ‘The ex-traordinary is waiting to be revealed on the path taken by ordinary peo-ple’. As a writer, he strives to reveal the inherent riches of our soul and to lead us along the path to revelation.

The Pilgrimage provides the reader with a comprehensive picture of the

author as a man, along with his phi-losophy and the knowledge he has gained through his study of psychol-ogy and human nature. In the words of one of his crit-ics: ‘…the tale makes us probe deeply into the thoughts and emotions awakened in us by the Ma-gus’s meditations and ideas. By following his lead, we will soon come to realise that the book’s real power resides not only in Coelho’s thoughts, but, rather, in the way those thoughts reso-nate and ripple inside us, awakening our own thoughts and emotions. This means that the reader is called upon to participate to a much greater extent than usual, by creating his or her individual interpre-tation of the work. When all is said and done, this book is an uplifting tale of spiritual quest, a compendium of cultural and historical details and, for the open-minded reader, a story that is at once compelling and stimulating.’

In short, this is the work that start-ed it all: the first of many successful books published over the decades since, bringing a great author still greater renown.

Géza MorcsányiManaging DirectorATHENAEUM Kiadó / Publishing House

MEXICO HUNGARY

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I clearly remember one weekend in 1989, just after the birth of my first daughter, going out onto the balcony of my apartment to read The Alchemist.

This was my first encounter with Paulo Coelho, who, in the years that followed, would become the biggest publishing phenomenon in Bra-zil.

In 1998, we created Editora Sextante, our mission being to produce books that would help people find the path to peace, happiness, spir-ituality and balance. By 2004, we had become one of the top five trade publishers in Brazil.

During that time, we continued to watch Paulo’s spectacularly suc-cessful global career. In 2010, Sextant e got the rights to publish Aleph and it is a matter of great pride to us that, from this year on, we will be publishing all of Paulo’s books in Brazil, starting with the com-memorative edition of The Pilgrimage. In his introduction, Paulo takes us back to 1986, when he was nearing the end of the Road to Santiago, still filled with anxieties and uncertainties about the future.

It’s fascinating to look back on everything that has happened in those twenty-five years, and to think of the number of people he has influenced and continues to influence.

‘In order to fi ght the Good Fight, we need help. We need friends, and when our friends are not near, we must make of solitude our main weapon. Everything around us will help us take the steps we need to take towards our objective. Everything must be a personal manifestation of our will to win the Good Fight. If not, if we fail to understand that we need everyone and everything, we will be arrogant warriors. And our arrogance will, in the end, defeat us, because we will be so sure of ourselves that we won’t notice the snares and traps that strew the battlefi eld.’The Pilgrimage

Marcos PereiraManaging Partner

Sextante

Paulo Coelho visited Croatia on two occasions, in 2000 and 2005. Today, twelve years after his first visit to Croatia, fans of literary arts, read-ers, critics, journalists, people of all ages still talk about how incredible those promotions in Zagreb were. There was never so much interest for a literary event in the capital of Croatia before, or after, Paulo’s vis-its. V.B.Z., Paulo’s Croatian pub-lisher, was ‘under siege’. The phones kept ringing in our offices, e-mails were coming in every minute. People

even contacted us privately, journal-

ists and readers were ‘all over us’ -

and all of them wanted to spend at

least a few minutes with Paulo. Dur-

ing his second visit to Zagreb, while

Paulo was signing books, we heard

numerous stories from ordinary,

everyday people who were thanking

him for helping them change their

lives. His books helped them find

their meaning again. Among those

people, many had come from Bosnia

and Herzegovina.

The Pilgrimage was published in

Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

in 2003, almost a decade after the

war had ended, when life was be-

coming normal again, and it has a

very specific meaning for people

from this region. In Bosnia and

Herzegovina, almost along its border with Croatia, there is a small town called Medjugorje that was heard of around the world after it became known that miracles were suppos-edly happening there since 1985, just a few years before the war began . Have those miracles foreshadowed

the war and showed that people for-got how to listen to themselves and to find their peace? Today, Med-jugorje (literally meaning ‘the area between mountains’) is a place of peace and recon-ciliation, and it has become one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the world. It is interesting that the church in Medjugorje is dedicated to St. James, the saint who the Road of Santiago is dedicated to. One of the messages of the Virgin Mary, who is said to have appeared in Med-jugorje, was: ‘Do all things out of love.’ Why has the phenomenon of Medjugorje hap-pened in this part of the world? In order to save the world - peace is necessary. The one provided by God - inner peace and joy of the heart. These are exactly the main messages of The Pilgrimage. The Road of San-tiago changed Paulo because he found true meaning and himself while on that path. It was exactly in this book that Paulo showed us how the path of dreams and love is open to everyone, even to those who suf-fered and believed that life had lost its meaning. Paulo said it best: ‘You shall see the face of God where you wish to see it.’ And people in the heart of Europe, caught in a terrible moment at the end of the 20th cen-tury, believed that this was impossi-ble. This is why they accepted Paulo’s sincere life story with joy and want-ed to thank him at the book promo-tion in Zagreb.

Bosko Zatezalo and Sandra UkalovicGeneral Manager and EditorV.B.Z

BRAZIL

CROATIA

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a gentle push

towards change

Since Paulo Coelho’s books first appeared in Slovakia, a considerable change has tak-en place. His fresh, inimita-ble voice, the inner depth of his storytelling and the al-most exotic journey into the reader’s own soul have at-tracted a wide audience. Readers have found guid-

ance and been spellbound by that new approach and by the expe-rience brought by each of his books, and Paulo has become their inspira-tional leader. One reader says: ‘I’ve read this book several times, but it really swept me off my feet when I was on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It’s an extraordinary piece of writing when you read it safe in the warmth of your own home, but out there on the road, a still deeper dimension unfolded.’ (Ja-kub).

It seems almost unbelievable that we are now celebrating the 25th anni-versary of this book. Some may say its power stems from its subject mat-ter, which takes us far from the usu-al mass-market stereotypes; some may say that what touches you is the author’s voice born of his own tur-bulent life. Both of these views may

be true, but, above all, Paulo opens up new spaces, which are closer than you think: ‘The Pilgrimage is an un-conventional travel book in which you are a witness to the way the sto-ryteller changes as the journey progresses. It’s a change everyone can go through. And the question Paulo is asking is: Do you want to change?’ (Miloš). The inevitable call for inner change is presented here with a gentleness that could make the reader become a better person and learn to listen to the universe in different ways.

For us, in the beginning, Paulo was just an author like many others. But then, after a couple of his books were published, we discovered that his readership is an organic unit, rather than just a bunch of fans. This marked the start of a change for us as publishers. Although we had been booklovers before, after teaming up with Paulo, we would never again regard books (including those by other authors) merely in terms of the number of copies printed or in terms of profit. Instead, books have be-come a link bringing us closer to our readers and authors. The 25th an-niversary of The Pilgrimage is a per-fect occasion to reflect on the fact that this story of a narrator’s inner change has influenced and re-shaped all those who encounter the book.

‘Man can never stop dreaming. Dreams nourish the soul, just as food nourishes the body. We often see our dreams destroyed and our desires frustrated, but we have to keep on dreaming. The good fi ght is the one we engage in because our heart asks us to.’The Pilgrimage

Valeria Malíková and Martin Vydra

Managing Director and Editor-in-chief Ikar

My life turned upside down in March 1995. At the age of 35, I had remained a resident of Paris for 14 years. Freshly returned from a long journey, I had an intense feeling that I should change something in my life. A friend gave me The Alche-mist, which I devoured overnight; and when I woke up in the morning, I knew that I had to share this book’s message with other people, that I should go back to Poland and start a publishing house.

By what miracle did I manage to meet Paulo Coelho at Hôtel du Dan-ube in Paris a few days later? And why did he grant me publishing rights for his book on the same day, even though he realized that I had no publishing house, or money, or any idea about bookselling? This has been a mystery to me. I only know that on that day, I met one of the most extraordinary people in my life. I have not seen anyone with such a keen intuition, a person for whom someone’s enthusiasm is of-ten worth more that the voice of reason. I don’t know anyone else who would be so industrious, so

curious of the world and open to people, so straightforward and warm-hearted. I know no other writer whose readers around the world would repeat the mantra, ‘Your books have changed my life’; a writer who invariably de-clares that a meeting with readers will take an hour, and then stays for five hours more, signing the books and frowning at me if I try to intervene. And yet, despite world fame, he remains a modest and frank person, a man for whom the words ‘loyalty’ and ‘friendship’ still hold a great meaning.

Today, 17 years after t hat meeting at Hôtel du Danube, having published 14 Paulo’s novels and sold nearly 4 million books on the Polish market, I have understood that there is a great seed of truth in what Paulo Coelho once wrote, ‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’

Basia StepienOwnerDrzewo Babel Publishing House

SLOVAKIAPOLAND

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I came to The Pilgrimage fairly late. I bought the rights to The Alchemist very early on, in 1993, but it took many years and several other books by Paulo before

I found time to read The Pilgrim-age. I don’t know why really, except that a publisher’s life is a very hectic one and there are always so many books. But what a read it was! It’s the book in which Paulo really invents his genre, a genre that has always been his and of which he is the one true master: his wonder at the magic of life; his way of ask-ing questions and leaving the reader to find the answers; the inner journeys he makes; his magical wisdom, which strikes a chord in every culture; all of which he combines with a story

that is a kind of documentary in which he shares his life with us. To my mind, The Pilgrimage is Paulo’s best book, a journey into self-knowledge, a liberating pause in all the bustle. Here, his philosophy makes its debut, and we find many of the qualities that, only a few years later, would make him known worldwide. His principal message is that we all carry the extraordinary and the magnificent within us, that they are to be found in every life. Those who want to find the extraordinary in themselves need only follow the path forged by or-dinary people, for that is the path that will help us reach our goals and fulfil our dreams. All of Paulo’s work is a journey towards humility, with our eyes wide open.

I’m Norwegian. In The Pilgrimage Pau-lo’s first brief, mystical meeting takes place in Oslo where he receives a silver ring bearing the image of an ouroboros – the snake that bites its own tail – the symbol of the order of RAM. If we draw a circle around the pentagram laid over Southern Norway we find the snake that bites its tail…the Midgard Serpent. It may be that this particular force-field in Norway was an important element in

Paulo’s initiation, and may also be why there is renewed interest in the ancient pilgrimage route across the Nordic countries to the old capital of Norway, Nidaros, modern-day Trondheim. Pau-lo receives yearly invitations to be a special guest at the St Olaf festival in Trondheim, because of his connection with the Road to Santiago.

Over many years of working with Pau-lo, I have met countless people who have walked that Road, all inspired by The Pilgrimage.

For Agneta Sjödin, a much-loved TV presenter in Sweden, the journey had profound personal consequences, and some years later, she wrote an acclaimed novel, published by Bazar, about just that. When I took over publishing Pau-lo in Sweden in 2002, she went to meet Paulo in Tarbes, and the result was a wonderful TV portrait.

In 2006, I had the pleasure of putting Paulo in touch with the Norwegian journalist Monica Øien, and together they spent three days walking the Road to Santiago, and out of that experience came a documentary which has now been broadcast all over the world.

And my cousin’s wife and her col-leagues, a group of nurses from hospi-tals in Oslo, were so inspired that they walked the Road together.

Once, in Oslo, Paulo was trying to ex-plain to a journalist that life is not as complicated as we tend to make it. It was winter and it was snowing, and he said: “Look, the snow doesn’t fall in lots of different colours, it’s always white.” I thought that was an excellent image for the wisdom to be found in The Pil-grimage. Life is complicated, of course, but if we can see beyond the complex-ity and simplify it, we can perhaps find a structure that is meaningful to us.

To me, The Pilgrimage has been a con-firmation of the magic I have always looked for. Thank you, Paulo!

Øyvind HagenNordic Publisher/CEO

Bazar Forlag

In April 1988, I belonged to a theatre group in Rio de Janeiro, and our direc-tor, Raul de Orofino, kept urging us all to read The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. The book had been published by a small publishing house, Eco, and had only limited distribution, but it had already sparked lively discussions among those of my colleagues who had read it. I duly borrowed a copy, started to read it, but didn’t manage to finish it. Then, in No-vember of that same year, I woke one night at midnight and read the final pages. I was filled with deep emotion, as if I myself had walked the Road to Santiago. After that, I couldn’t stop talk-ing about the book and recommended it to everyone I met, even reading pas-sages out to fellow students on my course at university.

At the time, I was in my second year of a Chemical Engineering degree and was spending most of my days in the library, preparing for my end-of-year exams. However, after that November night, I went straight to the theatre where the group was due to appear, simply to tell them that I had finally finished The Pilgrimage, but wouldn’t be able to stay for the performance. Then the director told me that Paulo Coelho was there with a group of friends. I didn’t know anything about Paulo or even which city he lived in, so I sat near the back and observed him. When the play ended, Paulo noticed that I was staring at him and asked me why. I produced that borrowed copy of The Pilgrimage from my bag. He was genuinely touched and asked me to join him and his friends. A few days later, I was invited to his wife Christi-na’s fortieth birthday party and we became good friends.

In Rio, I helped to promote The Pil-grimage along with my boyfriend, Car-los Eduardo, also a member of the theatre group and a great fan of the

book. In May 1989, we decided to move to Europe, and Carlos Eduardo was offered a traineeship in Barcelona at a branch of the pharmaceutical company he was working for in Brazil. When I told Paulo about our decision, he imme-diately suggested I become his literary agent. This seemed a great idea, given that The Pilgrimage is set in Spain and so ought to appeal to Spanish publishers. Obvi-ously, I had no idea what be-ing a literary agent involved, but I was really pleased to have a goal for the new jour-ney I was embarking on.

The Madrid Book Fair was just beginning when we ar-rived, and we went to every stand, collecting catalogues. In Barce-lona, I visited a few publishers in per-son, and Editora Martínez Roca, which was bought by Planeta some years later, decided to publish The Pilgrimage. When I think of it now, the negotiations didn’t take long at all, just forty days. In that same year of 1989, Brazilian sales of The Alchemist and The Pilgrim-age really began to take off, and both books topped best-seller lists around the country. And Paulo’s books remained at the top of those lists for five consecu-tive years, with each new book joining the older ones. The Paulo Coelho phe-nomenon was a very real one, gener-ated by readers like me, eager to share their enthusiasm for his books with other people.

I would like to thank Paulo from the bottom of my heart for his boundless confidence in me, because even though we didn’t really know what we were doing, the Road gradually revealed it-self to us and we learned and grew to-gether. My journey in 1989 is a meta-phor for my own Road to Santiago.

Mônica AntunesLiterary AgentSant Jordi Asociados

NORWAYBRAZIL

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Twenty-five years after the publication of The Pilgrimage, it seems like a dream to be writing today to Paulo Coelho himself to thank him for what he did and for transforming our lives. Here where we live in a Refuge for Pilgrims spon-

sored by our friend Paulo Coelho, it seems positively surreal and yet it is real. We walked the Road to Santiago and have chosen to live here. Everything is as magical as the book that so many of those with whom we share this place mention either verbally or in the visitor’s book. Many feet have trod-den this sacred Road, but Paulo left his mark in the hearts of all those who walk it. In the name of all the pilgrims, we would like to say thank you for giving us this precious tool that helped us to reach our Goal in Life.

Ultreia, suseia, Paulo Coelho.

Acácio and OriettaHospitaleros [vo lunteer hosts]

at a pilgrims’ hostal on the Road to Santiago

Documentaries

Auf dem Jakobsweg/On the Road to Santiago

2000, ZDF, GERMANY

A documentary recorded along the Road to Santiago in which Paulo Coelho remembers his experience walking this ancient pilgrim’s route in 1986.

The Alchemist of Words

2001, DISCOVERY NETWORKS

First offi cial biography of Paulo Coelho recorded in several locations,

including Santiago de Compostela, Iran, Rio de Janeiro and Colombia.

Pilgrimage of the soul. The Santiago Road and The Kumano Road

2001, AICHI TELEVISION BROADCASTING, JAPAN

A documentary about sacred pilgrimages recorded through the Kumano Road

in Japan and from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela.

Paulo Coelho. Un peregrino en busca de un sueño /Paulo Coelho. A pilgrim in search of a dream

2004, POLO DE IMAGEM, EDITORIAL PLANETA (SPAIN) AND BOMPIANI (ITALY)

Along the Road to Santiago, Paulo Coelho tells in fi rst person about his life and the experiences that led him to embark upon this journey -starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and fi nishing in Santiago de Compostela - and explains the eff ect it has had on his life and work.

Paulo Coelho on the Road to Santiago de Compostela

2006, TV INTER AS, NORWAY

Paulo Coelho invited Norwegian TV to join him on his journey along the route from France to Santiago de Compostela, which has long been a source of inspiration for him.

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Twenty years laterOn that afternoon in Leon in the far-off year of 1986, I still do not know that in six or seven years’ time I will write a book on this experience of mine, which is already in my soul - the shepherd Santiago in quest of a treasure - that a woman called Veronika had prepared to swallow some pills and try to commit suicide, and that Pilar will stand on the banks of the river Piedra and write her diary in tears.

All I know is that I am on this absurd and monotonous walk. There is no fax, no cellular phone, the shelters are few and far between, my guide seems irritated the whole time, and I have no way of knowing what is going on in Brazil.

All I know at this very moment is that I am tense, nervous, incapable of talk-ing with Petrus because I have just realized that I can no longer go on doing what I have been doing – even if this means giving up a reasonable amount of money at the end of the month, a certain emotional stability, a job that I know well and some techniques that I master. I need to change, follow in the direction of my dream, a dream that seems to me childish, ridiculous and impossible to make come true: to become the writer that I have secretly always wanted to be, but have never had the courage to admit.

Petrus finishes his coffee and mineral water, asks me to get the check and for us to start walking again, because there are still some kilometres to the next town. People go on passing by and talking, looking out of the corner of their eye at these two middle-aged pilgrims, wondering about the strange people in this world who are always ready to try and relive a past that is already dead (*). The temperature must be around 27o C because it is late afternoon and for the thousandth time I ask myself whether I have made the wrong decision.

Did I want to change? I don’t think so, but after all, this road is changing me. Did I want to know the mysteries? I think so, but the road is teaching me that there are no mysteries, that – as Jesus Christ said – nothing is hidden that has not been revealed. In other words, everything is happening in ex-actly the opposite way from what I expected.

We rose and started to walk in silence. I am engrossed in my thoughts, in my insecurity, and I imagine Petrus must be thinking about his job in Milan. He is here because somehow he was obliged by Tradition, but perhaps he hopes that the walk will soon come to an end so that he can get back to doing what he likes.

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We walk for almost all of what remains of the afternoon without talking. We are isolated in our forced companionship. Santiago de Compostela lies ahead and I cannot imagine that this road leads me not only to this city, but also to many other cities in the world. Neither I nor Petrus know that this afternoon on the plain of Leon I am also walking to Milan, his city, which I shall reach almost ten years from now, with a book called The Alchemist. I am walking towards my destiny, dreamed of so many times and so many times denied.

In a few days I shall arrive at exactly the place where today, twenty years down the track, I write these lines. I am walking in the direction of what I always wanted, and I have neither faith nor hope that my life will be changed.

Yet I push ahead. In some distant future, in one of the bars which I shall pass by a few days from now, my wife is already sitting reading a book, and there am I, writing this text on a computer that in a few minutes will send it by Internet to the newspaper where it will be published.

I am walking towards that future – on this August afternoon in 1986.

© M

artí

n R

endo

(*) in the year I made the pilgrimage, only 400 people had taken the Road to Santiago. In 2005, according to non-official statistics, 400 people passed every day in front of the bar mentioned in the text.

Paulo Coelho

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The Golden Medal Of Galicia

In July 1999, Paulo Coelho was the first intellectual to be awarded the Gold Medal of Galicia by the Spanish State Council in recognition of his remark-able literary career.

The president of Galicia at that time, Manuel Fraga, spoke of Paulo Coelho as one of the most important writers in Latin America, and praised him for his major contribution to the growing interest in the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

‘The truth is, I should be the one giving an award to the Road to Santiago,’ said Paulo Coelho when he heard the news, ‘because the road completely transformed my life. All the time I was following the road, I was thinking that it was high time I fulfilled my dream of becoming a writer. In the small village of Cebreiro, I finally realized that I was engaged in a battle for my personal legend because I was scared to face possible failure. I promised myself then that from that day on I would give up everything I was doing and fight for my dreams.’

Paulo Coelho Street

In June 2008, in gratitude for Paulo Coelho’s work in popularising and promoting Santiago de Compostela and the Road to Santiago, the city of Santiago de Com-postela in Spain named one of the roads coming into the city – a continuation of the Camino Francés [the French Way] – after him.

© M

artí

n R

endo

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140 million copies sold worldwide, published in 73 languages in more than 168 countries

Stationery line now present in 19 countries: 9 diaries; 2 quotation books; 1 journal

110 international prizes and awards

Speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos since 1998

10 million copies of The Pilgrimage sold worldwide, published in 38 languages

Writer with the highest number of social media followers

2009 Guinness World Record for the most translated author for the same book (The Alchemist, 67 languages)

Board Member of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship since 2001

22 books published: 13 novels; 5 short stories; 2 adaptations; 1 anthology; 1 book of fables

Second most influential celebrity on Twitter in 2010 according to Forbes

2004 Guinness World Record for the most translations (53) of a single title (The Alchemist) signed in one sitting (45 min.)

2012 brand ambassador for Relais & Châteaux

2012 official international ambassador for Montegrappa

60 theatre adaptations of Paulo Coelho’s works

Newspaper columns syndicated in 190 media in 65 countries

Paulo Coelho Institute founded in 1996; at present it supports 430 underprivileged Brazilian children

750 editions of Paulo Coelho’s works

Shooting of biopic on Paulo Coelho’s life in 2012 to be premiered in 2013

United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2007

Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002

Paulo CoelhoFacts & Figures

© M

arco

s B

orge

s

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Paulo CoelhoThe Pilgrimage

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ContactPasseig Garcia i Faria, 73-75, Torre A, 7º 5º • 08019 Barcelona, Spain

Phone +34 93 224 01 07 • Fax + 34 93 356 26 [email protected] • www.santjordi-asociados.com

More on the authorwww.paulocoelho.com

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