Paulo Coelho born into a middle class family, at the age of seven Paulo Coelho enters a Jesuit school in the then capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Since he was very young, he liked to write and kept a diary. In school, he took part in poetry competitions and theater courses. His father, however, wanted him to be an engineer, and his mother discouraged Paulo from following a writing career. Fights with his parents were constant, and Paulo had many crises of depression and rage as a teenager, and was interned three times in a rest clinic, where he was treated by psychologists.
Source: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho