A Project for Otto Kwant

Otto Kwant, descendant of a dynasty of master builders, studies architecture and, to his amazement, finds himself in Urfustan, a post-soviet, Central Asian state with strange customs, strange laws and with an authoritarian leader, Zültan Tantal. He is here to work on a project with star architect Holm Löb. But soon, Löb seems to have disappeared. Suddenly Otto Kwant is to build the new German embassy, and, by Zültan Tantal’s personal invitation, the ‘Palace of Democracy’, all by himself. Before long, strange encounters, bizarre attacks and confusing sanctions mean that Otto Kwant only wants one thing: to get out of Urfustan. That turns out to be a difficult venture. On his flight, Otto Kwant Comes across the villages of the German minority in Urfustan, hijacks a coach of German pensioners and repeatedly ends up in near hopeless situations.

With melancholy humour, Jochen Schmidt’s new novel tells the story of Otto Kwant, who merely wants to make the world more beautiful and ends up in one of its most inscrutable corners.

„Jochen Schmidt is a genius. I have wanted to write this sentence for a long time, so that everyone will get the word … (he) writes as tenderly as if he were in love with every word and every image of the world that he paints“

Volker Weidermann, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (on Snail‘s Mill and Sugar Sand)

„Jochen Schmidt is a virtuoso of entertaining and intelligent cabaret.“ Alexander Cammann, Die Zeit (on Snail‘sMill)

„Schmidt is a kind, calm magician who regards the terrible miracle of puberty with detailed leniency and has a great sense for loveable shenanigans.“ Stern

„Odd, but true: a real fortune“ Welt am Sonntag

„So that‘s how it is: after reading this book you can‘t help but love Jochen Schmidt with all his lack of ambition, forgetfulness, envy of women‘s ability to give birth, and multiple layers of meaning…“ Christoph Bartmann, Süddeutsche Zeitung (on

My Most Important Bodily Functions)

Jochen Schmidt was born in East Berlin in 1970 and still lives there today. He is a journalist, author and translator.