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Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.In 1970 he traveled through much of South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe.

In 1986, he experienced one of the defining moments of his life: he walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. On this ancient highway, used for centuries by pilgrims from France to get to the cathedral said to house the remains of St. James, he achieved a self-awareness and a spiritual awakening that he later described in The Pilgrimage.
As part of the Brazilian rock scene, Coelho wrote song lyrics for many famous performers in Brazilian music, such as Elis Regina and Rita Lee. His most well known work was with Raul Seixas.In Holland he met a person (whom he would refer to as "J" throughout The Valkyries, The Pilgrimage and his website "Warriors of Light online") who changed his life and Coelho was driven towards Christianity. He said he became member of a Catholic group called Regnus Agnus Mundi, with J as its leader. However, the existence of the group is unverified since his own works are the only source while the Latin name is unverified. In 1986 he walked along the Road of Santiago, an ancient Spanish pilgrimage and his book The Pilgrimage describes his final initiation.
In 1982 Coelho published his first book, Hell Archive , which failed to make any kind of impact. In 1985 he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism, although he later tried to take it off the shelves since he considered it “of bad quality”. In 1986, Paulo Coelho made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage.
In the following year, Coelho published The Alchemist.Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best-selling Brazilian books of all time. It has sold more than 41 million copies worldwide and has been translated into some 66 languages.Coelho has sold over 100 million books in over 150 countries worldwide and his works have been translated into 66 languages.
Despite the popularity of Coelho's works in Iran, his 2005 novel The Zahir was banned there, with 1,000 copies being confiscated , but a week later it appeared again in bookstores, according to his publisher Caravan. His latest book, The Witch of Portobello was released in 2006 – 2007.
His books have appeared on bestseller lists in countries not only in Brazil but in the UK, the United States, France, Germany, Iran, Canada, Italy, Israel, Finland, Serbia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Cuba, Poland and Lithuania. He is the all time best-selling Portuguese language author.