Jochen Schmidt

Jochen Schmidt (born 1970 in Berlin) is a German author and translator. In 1999, he co-founded the Berlin reading-stage group Chaussee der Enthusiasten and received the Open Mike Literature Prize from the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin. In 2004, he was awarded the Advancement Prize of the Kassel Literature Prize for Grotesque Humor. His novels include Müller haut uns raus, Schneckenmühle, Zuckersand, Ein Auftrag für Otto Kwant, and Phlox. He has also published the story collections Triumphgemüse, Meine wichtigsten Körperfunktionen, and Der Wächter von Pankow, the reading diary Schmidt liest Proust, and, with Line Hoven, Schmythologie and Paargespräche. Together with David Wagner, he wrote Drüben und drüben – zwei deutsche Kindheiten; he also documented curiosities of everyday life rooted in East Germany’s past through photography.