Le Web 08, Paris

The fifth edition of LeWeb, which takes place in Paris on December 9^th and 10^th portends to be as big as before, with at least 1500 entrepreneurs, journalists, bloggers and Internet industry players from 40 Countries. This year theme is "Love". Author Paulo Coelho will give a speech on the 9th December, at 2:30 p.m.

More information: www.lewebparis.com.

Alchemy in Arendal
September 29^st, 2008

The success story of how the city of Arendal was inspired by The Alchemist is one of the highlights of an exhibition marking the 20^th anniversary of Coelho's classic novel. The exhibition was shown at a big celebration event in Spain earlier this year and is now put up in Arendal!

Read more: English

Paulo Coelho at the official opening press conference of the Frankfurt Book Fair
August 31^st, 2008

Paulo Coelho has been invited to be the guest speaker at the official opening press conference of the 60th Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. The press conference will take place at the fair on Tuesday, October 14th from 11 am to 12 noon with the attendance of 300 - 400 journalists from around the world.

Read more: English

Closure of The Experimental Witch Competition, July 25^th, 2008

The Experimental Witch competition has been closed today with almost 6,000 participants giving way to the next phase of the competition, the moment when the readers' views will be pieced together. Paulo Coelho has praised the good quality of the creations that will compose a film probably longer than envisaged due to the great deal of artistic liberty given to the partakers. The winners will be announced on August 24th and the film is expected to be released on the Internet within this year.

You can watch a trailer about one of the films, based on the character of Nabil Alaihi, in the following link:
myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37695645

Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

With a new introduction of the best selling author Paulo Coelho, July 2008

The Penguin Classics’ 2008 catalogue brings an edition of Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, with a new introduction by Paulo Coelho. The edition also holds a beautiful cover, with colorful illustrations.

Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha.

Read more:
www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141189574,00.html

Paulo Coelho has organized a virtual exhibition with his readers to celebrate the 100 million copies sold worldwide, July 2008

Paulo Coelho is one of the most widely read author in the world and the 100 million copies he has sold so far are a clear proof of it. To celebrate this success, the Brazilian writer has decided to organize a virtual exhibition in which his readers will be the protagonists. Throughout the year, Coelho's fans will be able to upload a photo of them with their favourite book by the author, regardless of the language and country.

Read more: English

American actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Air I Breathe, Possession) is set to play Veronika
July 2008

British director Emily Young (Kiss Of Life) is set to direct the film. The script has been written by Roberta Hanley and Larry Gross. Photography is set to begin on May 12th 2008 in New York with Sriram Das/Das and Chris Hanley/Muse as producers.

American actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Air I Breathe, Possession) is set to play Veronika. Aidan Quinn and Bridgette Fonda are in talks for other roles in the film though not yet confirmed.

Read more: English

Paulo Coelho participates at La Milanesiana
July 3^rd and 4^th

Paulo Coelho and Sir Michael Atiyah (Abel Prize Mathematics 2004) will talk about "The Element of Life" within the framework of "The Four Elements", the theme of this years edition of La Milanesiana.

Read more: English

The "Experimental Witch Film Competition" publicity campaign short-listed in Cannes
June 26^th 2008

The publicity campaign created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners in collaboration with Transistor Studios New York to promote the "Experimental Witch Film Competition" has been short-listed for a Titanium Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Although it did not win the award, it is quite remarkable as from a total of 432 entries only 33 managed to be on the shortlist.

Click here to watch the video of the campaign: www.youtube.com/watch?v=INFDycyjdjc

Montegrappa launches the Paulo Coelho Limited Edition pen
25^th June 2008

Montegrappa, the first Italian pen manufacturer, has launched a limited edition of 1947 pens as a tribute to the personal and artistic journey of Paulo Coelho. In the collection that recalls the author's date of birth (August 24th 1947), this number consists of 1,000 fountain pens in silver, 900 rollers in silver and emeralds and 47 fountain pens in yellow gold, emeralds and diamonds.

Read more: English

20^th Anniversary of The Alchemist Exhibition

The magazine of Corriere della Sera dedicates its cover to Paulo Coelho on June 26^th to announce the opening of the 20^th Anniversary of The Alchemist Exhibition in Sala Buzzati at Fondazione Corriere della Sera, Via Balzan 3 in Milan (Italy). The exhibition will open on June 28^th 2008 and will last until July 12^th.

Read more: English

A street dedicated to Paulo Coelho is inaugurated in the French Road to Santiago in Santiago de Compostela.
June 23^rd, 2008

The city council of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) pays a homage to Paulo Coelho in gratefulness for his intense task in the popularisation and promotion of Santiago de Compostela and the Road to Santiago after the publication of his book, The Pilgrimage, about the pilgrims road.

Read more: English

Hany Abu-Assad set to direct "Eleven Minutes"
June 3^rd, 2008

Palestinian film director Hany Abu-Assad ("Paradise Now") has been set by Hollywood Gang Productions to direct the film based on Paulo Coelho's bestseller.

Abu-Assad will rewrite Marco's Bernstein's adaptation for the big screen, produced by Gianni Nunnari. Executive producers will be Craig J. FLores and George Waud.

In December 2004 Hollywood Gang Productions optioned worldwide motion picture rights to "Eleven Minutes", the #1 international best-selling novel in 2003 and #5 in 2004.

"The Alchemist" will finally be brought to the big screen by The Weinstein Co.
May 18^th, 2008

For 15 years, Hollywood has tried and failed to transform Paulo Coelho's best-selling novel "The Alchemist" into silver screen material. Now Harvey Weinstein has announced during the Cannes Film Festival that he has the magic formula.

The project had been in development at Warners for years, but Weinstein has now stepped in, picked up all rights, and will personally produce the film for the Weinstein Co. Glen Basner, Weinstein Co. International president, will handle global sales.

Read more: English

Paulo Coelho has a new Guinness World Record to his credit, the 2009 Guinness World Record for the Most Translated Living Author for the same book, with William Shakespeare as the Most Translated Author of all time.

Read more: English

Free Speech - Newsweek Web Exclusive, By Andreas Tzortzis
6^th February, 2008

Literary lion Paulo Coelho reveals a passion for promoting the online piracy of his own books. He thinks publishers should follow suit.

Read more: English

Oscar Niemeyer International Culture Centre
5^th February, 2008

Paulo Coelho has accepted to be part of the board of trustees of the Oscar Niemeyer International Culture Centre. This centre will be framed within a sort of "worldwide network of museums and culture centres" and is a project that counts on the support of the London School of Economics. Other museums and cultural centres in this nextwork include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Sydney Opera, the Royal Library of Alexandria, the Barbican Centre in London, the Tokyo International Forum and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Read more: English

BLOODlikeWATER series
London, 4^th February, 2008

The author Paulo Coelho is among a group of thirty writers who have been invited by Amnesty International to contribute with a story for the BLOODlikeWATER series. The series will highlight the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and will be officially launched at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, in August 2008, Scotland. Besides Paulo Coelho, other famous writers from across the globe are also contributing to the project, including J M Coetzee, Tom Stoppard and Nadine Gordimer. The funds from the sales of the series will be fully donated to Amnesty International’s projects.

HP has joined the author Paulo Coelho to promote the "Experimental Witch Film Competition"
January 31^th, 2008

HP has joined the author Paulo Coelho to promote the "Experimental Witch Film Competition". The project takes place on the web and the publicity campaign created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners in collaboration with Transistor Studios New York has already started.

Read more: English

Promoting dialogue and understanding, Paulo Coelho to meet Ban Ki-moon
Madrid, Spain - 15-16 January

European Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue Paulo Coelho joined UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, political leaders, and civil society groups to explore ways of addressing the risk that the growing polarization between nations and cultures worldwide represents for peace and international security, and to develop partnerships to promote cross-cultural understanding and intercultural dialogue globally.

Paulo Coelho took part in the Forum as a UN Messenger of Peace.