Today, August 24, marks the birthday of one of the most
translated authors alive, a man whose single slim parable about a shepherd boy
has outsold entire genres and turned personal reinvention into a literary
industry.
Paulo Coelho de Souza was born on August 24, 1947, in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. He is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist, and since 2002 he has
held a seat in the Brazilian Academy of Letters. His best-known novel, The
Alchemist, published in 1988, remains an international bes...