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| Paulo Coelho poses during the shooting of a Volkswagen ad at the Strahov monastery library. (ČTK) |
Paulo Coelho, one of the world's most renowned authors, is in Prague, his favourite city, to shoot a commercial for Volkswagen, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Tuesday, citing Zuzana Mickova from the Czech publisher's house Argo.
"Coelho has chosen Prague for the filming as he has a very warm relation to it," said Mickova, whose publisher's house specialises in Czech translations of Coelho's books. Fernando Morais, the author of Coelho's biography, has written that Prague is the key place in Coelho's life. "Twenty years ago, he made a promise to the Infant Jesus in Prague and asked him to help him become a famous writer," Morais said, referring to the famous wax statuette in the Church of Our Lady Victorious, that came to Prague from Spain in the 17th century.
Mickova said Coelho stays in the Four Seasons hotel but no further details, itinerary or length of his stay are not known. Coelho is one of the five best-selling authors in the world. He has already sold over 100 million books, including 560,000 in the Czech Republic, MfD recalls.
Copyright 2008 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK).
Seniors World Chronicle adds: Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in August 1947.
Click for more about his life.
Paulo Coelho's New York Times bestseller The Alchemist is or has been #1 bestseller in 74 countries, received the 2009 Guinness World Record for the most translated author of the same book. Published in more than 160 countries, Coelho's books have been translated into 68 languages and sold more than 100 million copies internationally, with 9 million sold in the U.S. "His masterful explorations of the human heart have made him one of the most read authors in the world," comments one reviewer.
