A puzzling phone call shatters a writers routine. An enigmatic female voice extends an invitation to take part in Documenta, the legendary contemporary art exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany. The writers mission will be to transform himself into a living art installation, by sitting down to write every morning in a Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of town.

Once in Kassel, the writer is surprised to find himself overcome by good cheer. As he strolls through the city, spurred on by his spontaneous, quirky response to art, he begins to make sense of the wonders that surround him.

'A writer who has no equal in the contemporary landscape of the Spanish novel' Roberto Bolaño

'Vila-Matas's work made a tremendous impression on me' Paul Auster

Enrique Vila-Matas is widely considered to be one of Spain's most important contemporary novelists. His work has been translated into 30 languages and has won numerous international literary prizes, including the Herralde Prize, the Prix Médicis étranger and the Premio Rómulo Gallegos. Vila-Matas's books have been longlisted (Montano) and shortlisted (Dublinesque) for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, andNever Any End to Pariswas a finalist for the US Best Translated Book Award.

Enrique Vila-Matas brings his trademark humour and lightly worn intelligence to the contemporary art world