Book traces Paulo Coelho's rise from rebel to bestseller

By Marjorie Rodrigues

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - During the course of his life, Paulo Coelho spent time in a mental institution, wrote several popular songs and became one of world's best-selling authors with novels like "The Alchemist."

But according to biographer Fernando Morais, that doesn't begin to tell the story of the author's life.

"O Mago" ("The Wizard"), a new biography of Coelho, reveals the wild, sometimes dark, past of the Brazilian writer, Morais said.

"It has everything. Violence, sex, religion, rock and roll, Satanism. And it ends with redemption, because his dream of being a famous writer comes true," Morais said at a news conference in Sao Paulo.

It contains "shocking" confessions Morais said he found in almost 200 diaries and 100 tapes that Coelho, 60, kept hidden in a chest for years.

The 632-page book hit stores this week and sold more than 10,000 copies in Brazil the day it was released. Publisher Planeta plans to release the book in 40 other countries.

"Paulo had so many crazy experiences you almost can't believe it," Morais said. "I felt like Indiana Jones when I opened that chest."

Coelho's wanted the chest containing his diaries to be burned when he died, taking his secrets to the grave. But the author told Morais he could have the keys if he uncovered the name of the man who tortured him during the 1964-1985 dictatorship in Brazil.