Paulo Coelho ( Rio de Janeiro, August 24, 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He has become one of the most widely read authors in the world today with over 140 million books sold in more than 150 countries, translated into 73 languages. He is the recipient of numerous international awards, amongst them the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum, France's Légion d'honneur and the Gold Medal of Galicia, among many other awards he has received thanks to his commercial success. Since October 2002 he is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. In addition to receiving international top awards and citations, he is currently a special advisor of the Unesco for the spiritual convergence program and Intercultural Dialogues and Messenger of Peace United Nations since 2007.