Great Blog

Paulo Coelho was dressed in all black, the bookstore was dressed in all black, the 400-person line extending way out of the store was all dressed in black – and it was raining outside. Yet it was a moment of light and hope last Thursday in Stockholm’s Söder district in the new Skrapan mall when the mega popular writer was signing his new book The Witch of Portobello at the new concept store of Akademiebokhandeln. At his stage of popularity Coelho can pick where he goes and he decided to go to Stockholm because he felt it was hugely important that someone was opening a new bookstore at a time when everybody is closing them.

Black is the color of dress for those who know in Stockholm this fall and it is also the color of the new store (could it be that the choice of the iconic color of Monocle magazine has something to do with this?). All shelves, counters, screens, even the staff were matt black. But it was actually a nice backdrop to the tastefully made selection of books, magazines, audio books and films glowing in halogen light. The store made you want to browse and made you find gorgeous things.

Coelho sat behind the desk for the first hour, looking his fans in the eyes, thanking everyone for coming and for reading his books. Everybody had a story to tell and the goateed Brazilian with burning eyes listened as long as it took him to sign the book. And then to the next book and next story. After a short break, for the next hour, he worked the line on foot, reaching the last in the line by the entrance just before it was time to close the store. “You learn these tricks, you know”, he explained. “You can do this faster by standing up, and people like it when you go to them.”

Coelho is about stories, quotes and wisdom. During the dinner afterwards he said that one of his own favorite quotes is by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier: “Men only learned to fly when they stopped replicating the birds.”

Don’t copy, do your own thing. Even if you are dressed like everyone else.