The second innovation was technological. The book appeared on the author’s website before the printed version reached the Brazilian and Portuguese bookshops, and in just two days his web page received 29,000 hits, which took everyone, including the author, by surprise. ‘It was just amazing, but it proved that the Internet has become an obligatory space for a writer to share his work with the readers,’ he told newspapers. To those who feared that the initiative might rob bookshops of readers, he replied: ‘In 1999, I discovered that the edition of The Alchemist published in Russia was available on the Internet. Then I decided to confront piracy on its own ground and I started putting my books on the web first. Instead of falling, sales in bookshops increased.’
As though wanting to reaffirm that these were not empty words, the site where he began to make his books available (www.piratecoelho.wordpress.com) has a photo of the author with a bandana on his head and a black eye patch, as though he were a real pirate. Convinced that someone only reads books on-screen if he has no other option, and that printing them out at home would cost more than buying them in the bookshops, Coelho began to make all his books available online. ‘It has been proved that if people read the first chapters on the Internet and like it,’ he states, ‘they will go out and buy the book.’
Since the middle of 2006, he and Mônica and Chris, as well as some of his publishers, had been hoping that the number of books sold would pass the 100-million mark around the feast day of St Joseph, 19 March, the following year, when he had decided he would celebrate his sixtieth birthday. As it turned out, the 100-millionth book was not sold until five months later, in August, which was his real birthday. Although he had told the newspapers that being sixty was no more important than being thirty-five or forty-seven, in February, he decided that he would celebrate St Joseph’s day in the Hotel El Peregrino, in Puente la Reina, a small Spanish town 20 kilometres from Pamplona, halfway along the Road to Santiago. That day he announced on his blog that he would be glad to welcome the first ten readers to reply in Puente la Reina. When the messages began to arrive–coming from places as far away as Brazil, Japan, England, Venezuela and Qatar–Paulo feared that those who replied might think that the invitation included air trips and accommodation, and hastened to clarify the situation. To his surprise, they had all understood what he meant and were prepared to bear the cost. On the actual day, there were five Spaniards (Luís Miguel, Clara, Rosa, Loli and Ramón), a Greek (Chrissa), an Englishman (Alex), a Venezuelan (Marian), a Japanese (Heiko) and an American who lived in northern Iraq (Nika), as well as the ex-football star Raí and Paulo’s old friends, among them Nelson Liano, Jr, his partner on the Manual do Vampirismo, and Dana Goodyear, the American journalist. In his blog, Liano summed up the atmosphere at El Peregrino:
It was a celebration in honour of St Joseph in four languages. Paulo adopted the feast day of the patron saint of workers to celebrate his birthday, following an old Spanish Christian tradition. While the party was going on, a snowfall left the Road to Santiago completely white. Salsa, French regional music, the bolero, tango, samba and the unforgettable hits that Paulo had written with Raul Seixas gave a pan-musical note to the party, accompanied by the very best Rioja wine.
Five months later, as his real birthday was approaching, the team led by Mônica at Sant Jordi was working flat out on the preparation of a smart forty-page folder in English, the cover of which bore a photo of a beaming Paulo Coelho and the words ‘PAULO COELHO–100,000,000 COPIES’. The urgency was due to the fact that the folder had to be ready by the first week of October, for the Frankfurt Book Fair.
While the people at Sant Jordi were engaged on this, on 24 August, the man himself was, as usual, devoting himself to more spiritual matters. Anyone strolling along the narrow, sunny little streets in Barbazan-Debat, 10 kilometres from Saint-Martin, at three o’clock that afternoon, might not even have noticed the presence of the man with close-cropped white hair, wearing trainers, T-shirt and bermudas. Coelho had just come out of the small chapel of Notre Dame de Piétat and sat down on a wooden bench, where he placed a notebook on his lap and began to write. The few tourists who drove past would have found it hard to associate that slight, rather monk-like figure with the author courted by kings, emirs and Hollywood stars and acclaimed by readers all over the world. Christina, who was watching from a distance, went over to him and asked what he was writing.
‘A letter,’ he replied, without looking up.
‘Who to?’ she went on.
‘To the author of my biography.’
Posted some hours later at Saint-Martin post office, the letter is reproduced in its entirety below.
Barbazan-Debat, 24 August 2007
Dear Fernando
I’m sitting here outside this small chapel and have just repeated the usual ritual: lighting three candles to Notre Dame de Piétat. The first asking for her protection, the second for my readers and the third asking that my work should continue undiminished and with dignity. It’s sunny, but it’s not an unbearably hot summer. There is no one in sight, except for Chris, who is looking at the mountains, the trees and the roses that the monks planted, while she waits for me to finish this letter.
We came on foot–10 kilometres in two hours, which is reasonable. We shall have to go back on foot, and I’ve just realized that I didn’t bring enough water. It doesn’t matter; sometimes life gives you no choice, and I can’t stay sitting here for ever. My dreams are waiting for me, and dreams mean work, and I need to get back home, even though I’m thirsty.
I turn sixty today. My plan was to do what I always do, and that’s how it’s been. Yesterday at 23.15 I went to Lourdes so that I would be there at 00.05 on the 24th, the moment when I was born, before the grotto of Our Lady, thank her for my life so far and ask for her protection for the future. It was a very moving moment, but while I was driving back to Saint-Martin, I felt terribly alone. I commented on this to Chris, who said: ‘But you were the one who chose to spend the day like this!’ Yes, I chose it, but I began to feel uncomfortable. There we were, the two of us alone on this immense planet.
I turned on my mobile. At the same moment, it rang–it was Mônica, my agent and friend. I got home and there were other messages waiting for me. I went to sleep happy, and in the morning I realized that there was no reason for last night’s gloom. Flowers and presents, etc. began to arrive. People in Internet communities had created extraordinary things using my images and texts. Everything had been organized, for the most part, by people I had never seen in my life–with the exception of Márcia Nascimento, who created something really magical that made me glad to say ‘I’m a writer who has a fan club (of which she is the world president)!’
Why am I writing to you? Because today, unlike other days, I have an immense desire to go back to the past, using not my own eyes, but those of someone who has had access to my diaries, my friends, my enemies, to everyone who has been a part of my life. I should like very much to be reading my biography right now, but it looks like I’m going to have to wait.
I don’t know what my reaction will be when I read what you’ve written, but in the chapel, it says: ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ Truth is a complicated word–after all, many religious crimes have been committed in its name, many wars have been declared, many people have been banished by those who believed themselves to be just. But one thing is certain: when the truth is a liberating truth, there is nothing to fear. And that was basically why I agreed to a biography: so that I can discover another side to myself. And that will make me feel freer.
A plane’s flying by overhead, the new Airbus 380, which has not yet been put into service and is being tested near here. I look at it and think: How long will it take for this new marvel of technology to become obsolete? Of course, my next thought is: How long before my books are forgotten? Best not to think about it. I didn’t write them with one eye on eternity. I wrote them to discover what, given your training as a journalist and given your Marx
ist convictions, will not be in your book: my secret corners, sometimes dark and sometimes light, which I only began to be aware of when I set them down on paper.
Like any writer, I always flirted with the idea of an autobiography, but it’s impossible to write about yourself without ending up justifying your mistakes and magnifying your successes–it’s human nature. So that’s why I accepted the idea of your book so readily, even though I know I run the risk of having things revealed that I don’t think need to be revealed. Because, if they’re a part of my life, they need to see the light of day. That’s why I decided–a decision I’ve often regretted over the past three years–to give you access to the diaries that I’ve been writing since I was an adolescent.
Even if I don’t recognize myself in your book, I know that there will be a part of me there. While you were interviewing me and I was forced to look again at certain periods of my life, I kept thinking: What would have become of me if I hadn’t experienced those things?
It’s not worth going into that now: Chris says we should go back home, we have another two hours to walk, the sun’s getting stronger and the ground is dry. I have asked her for another five minutes to finish this. Who shall I be in your biography? Although I haven’t read it, I know the reply: I shall be the characters who crossed my path. I shall be the person who held out his hand, trusting that there would be another hand waiting to support me in difficult times.
I exist because I have friends. I have survived because they were there on my path. They taught me to give the best of myself, even when, at some stages in my life, I was not a good pupil. But I think that I have learned something about generosity.
Chris says that my five minutes are up, but I’ve asked for a little more time so that I can write here, in this letter, the words that Khalil Gibran wrote more than a hundred years ago. They’re probably not in the right order, because I learned them by heart on a distant, sad and gloomy night when I was listening to Simon & Garfunkel on that machine we used to call a ‘gramophone’, which has now been superseded (just as, one day, the Airbus 380 will and, eventually, my books). They are words that speak about the importance of giving:
‘It is only when you give of yourself that you truly give. Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors.
‘People often say: “I would give, but only to the deserving.” The trees in your orchard say not so. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
‘Therefore, when you share something out, do not think of yourselves as generous people. The truth is, it is life that divides things up and shares them out, and we human beings are mere witnesses to our own existence.’
I’m going to get up now and go home. A witness to my own existence, that is what I have been every day of the sixty years I am celebrating today.
May Our Lady of Piétat bless you.
Paulo
When this biography was completed, in February 2008, the A380 was in commercial operation. Given how fast new technology becomes obsolete, it is highly likely that manufacture of the A380 will have ceased long before the hundreds of millions of copies of Paulo Coelho’s books disappear and, with them–despite what the literary critics may think–the profound effect they have had on readers in even the most far-flung corners of the planet.
FACTS ABOUT PAULO COELHO
BOOKS PUBLISHED
Teatro na Educação (1973)
Arquivos do Inferno (1982)
Manual Prático do Vampirismo (1985)
O Diário de um Mago (The Pilgrimage) (1987)
O Alquimista (The Alchemist) (1988)
Brida (1990)
O Dom Supremo (1991)
As Valkírias (The Valkyries) (1992)
Na Margem do Rio Piedra eu Sentei e Chorei (By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept) (1994)
Maktub (1994)
O Monte Cinco (The Fifth Mountain) (1996)
Manual do Guerreiro da Luz (Manual of the Warrior of Light) (1997)
Cartas de Amor do Profeta (1997)
Veronika Decide Morrer (Veronika Decides to Die) (1998)
Palavras Essenciais (1999)
O Demônio e a Srta. Prym (The Devil and Miss Prym) (2000)
Histórias para Pais, Filhos e Netos (2001)
Onze Minutos (Eleven Minutes) (2003)
O Gênio e as Rosas (2004)
O Zahir (The Zahir) (2005)
Ser como o Rio que Flui (Like the Flowing River) (2006)
A Bruxa de Portobello (The Witch of Portobello) (2006)
O Vencedor está só (The Winner Stands Alone) (2008)
Excluding pirate editions, his books have sold over 100 million copies in 455 translations, published in 66 languages and 160 countries.
MAIN PRIZES AND DECORATIONS
Golden Book–Yugoslavia, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004
Grand Prix Littéraire Elle–France, 1995
Guinness Book of Records–Brazil, 1995/1996
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres–France, 1996
Livre d’Or–France, 1996
ABERT Prize, Formador de Opinião–Brazil, 1996
Premio Internazionale Flaiano–Italy, 1996
Super Grinzane Cavour Literary Prize–Italy, 1996
Finalist in the International IMPAC Literary Award–Eire, 1997 and 2000
Protector de Honor–Spain, 1997
Comendador da Ordem do Rio Branco–Brazil, 1998
Diploma da Ordem Fraternal do Cruzeiro do Sul–Brazil, 1998
Fiera Del Libro per i Ragazzi–Italy, 1998
Flutuat Nec Mergitur–France, 1998
Libro de Oro for La Quinta Montaña–Argentina, 1998
Medaille de la Ville de Paris–France, 1998
Senaki Museum–Greece, 1998
Sara Kubitschek Prize–Brazil, 1998
Top Performance Nacional–Argentina, 1998
Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur–France, 1999
Huésped Distinguido de la Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de la Paz–Bolívia, 1999
Ksiżka Zagraniczna–Poland, 1999
Libro de Oro for Guerrero de la Luz–Argentina, 1999
Libro de Oro for Veronika Decide Morir–Argentina, 1999
Libro de Platina for El Alquimista–Argentina, 1999
Medalla de Oro de Galicia–Spain, 1999
Crystal Prize of the World Economic Forum–Switzerland, 1999
Crystal Mirror Prize–Poland, 2000
Member of the Pen Club Brazil–Brazil, 2001
Bambi Prize for Cultural Personality of the Year–Germany, 2001
Ville de Tarbes–France, 2001
XXIII Premio Internazionale Fregene–Italy, 2001
Diploma of the Academia Brasileira de Letras–Brazil, 2002
Miembro de Honor–Bolivia, 2002
Club of Budapest Planetary Arts Award in recognition of his literary work–Germany, 2002
International Corine prize for the best work of fiction for The Alchemist–Germany, 2002
Prix de la Littérature Consciente de la Planète–France, 2002
Ville d’Orthez–France, 2002
Médaille des Officiers des Arts et des Lettres–France, 2003
Medal from the Lviv Book Fair–Ukraine, 2004
Nielsen Gold Book Award for The Alchemist–United Kingdom, 2004
Order of Honour of Ukraine–Ukraine, 2004
Order of Saint Sophia for contribution to knowledge and culture–Ukraine, 2004
Premio Giovanni Verga–Italy, 2004
Golden Book award from the newspaper Vecernje Novosti–Serbia, 2004
Budapest Award–Hungary, 2005
Ex Libris award for Eleven Minutes–Serbia, 2005
Goldene Feder Award–Germany, 2005
International Author’s Award from DirectGroup Bertelsmann–Germany, 2005
8th Annual International Latino Book Award for The Zahir–United States, 2006
I Premio Álava en el Corazón–Spain,
2006
Kiklop Award for The Zahir in the Best-Seller of the Year Category–Croatia, 2006
ARTICLES
Weekly articles written by Paulo Coelho are published in 109 publications in 60 countries: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eire, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Venezuela.
CINEMA
The film rights for four of his books have been negotiated with the following American studios:
The Alchemist (Warner Brothers)
The Fifth Mountain (Capistrano Productions)
Eleven Minutes (Hollywood Gang Productions)
Veronika Decides to Die (Muse Productions)
INTERNET
Apart from his website, www.paulocoelho.com, which is available in sixteen languages, the author has a blog, www.paulocoelhoblog.com, and a Myspace page, www.myspace.com/paulocoelho.
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