Paulo Coelho became a household name among readers following the release of his 1988 novel The Alchemist, which proved to be a huge hit with young adults and celebrity readers such as Will Smith and Bill Clinton. The famed author has now announced that he intends to start distributing his novels for free across the continent of Africa.
The writer took to Twitter to announce that he plans to start distributing his books free of charge to African schools and libraries in both cities and more rural areas across sub-Saharan Africa. “I’m going to buy the titles from my publishers [and] give them for free to schools & libraries,” he wrote, before asking anyone who might be able to help to make contact at [email protected].
Looking at the response on Twitter, it appears Coelho has already had applications from users across African countries such as Madagascar, Kenya, and Tanzania. This isn’t the first time Coelho has gone out of his way to make his books available to all. He has insisted that his books be fairly priced and that translations of his books be handled by local publishers.
Coelho has also made a point of visiting more remote and out of the way locations when it comes to embarking on book tours. In 1999, he told The New York Times: “All my life the most important things have been what I learned from ordinary people.”
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