The star author will represent Brazil’s pavilion in Shanghai.

From the Shanghai Daily :

BRAZIL yesterday appointed Paulo Coelho, the author of one of the world’s most read novels, “The Alchemist,” as ambassador of the country’s pavilion at the World Expo 2010. [read more]

Coelho’s The Alchemist appeared world-wide in 1988, and has gone on to sell some 30 million copies in more than 67 languages.

In 1994, Brazil was invited to be the Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The novels of Paulo Coelho were among the most memorable and celebrated of that thematic year.

You can read more about Brazil and other Guest Countries at the Book Fair in Peter Weidhaas’s upcoming memoir, See You in Frankfurt!

The World Expo 2010 will be held in Shanghai May 1–October 31, 2010.

Watch these videos from Publishing Perspectives on YouTube, including an exclusive interview with Peter Weidhaas!

The Publishing Perspectives news site has more background on this story about the Frankfurt Book Fair’s China Symposium.