'The Alchemist' at 20

by Wendy Werris -- Publishers Weekly, 9/15/2008 3:18:00 PM

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Paulo Coelho’s bestselling The Alchemist, HarperOne is sponsoring a live interactive web event between the author, his readers and actor Laurence Fishburne to be held Wednesday, September 17 at 12:00 noon PDT. The one-hour program will be broadcast on www.authorsonair.com, a new Web site that brings authors and readers together. “We are delighted to celebrate The Alchemist and Paulo Coelho,” commented HarperOne’s publisher, Mark Tauber. “This is an opportunity for fans all over the world to ask questions and to exchange thoughts with the author of this inspirational book.” The event is a phone-in and online chat that includes an author interview, reader’s calls and a conversation between Coelho and Fishburne.

The Alchemist, which has sold more than 4 million copies in the U.S., is being developed into a film by Emmy and Tony award-winning Fishburne for the Weinstein Company.