Books by Chad Harbach
Chad Harbach is the award-winning author of The Art of Fielding. He grew up in Wisconsin and was educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia. He is a cofounder and coeditor of n+1
“Harbach is to release a much-anticipated follow up to his hit debut novel The Art of Fielding: The Brightness reunites Henry, Pella, Mike, Owen and other Westish College friends several years later—in the wake of Owen publishing a hit novel called The Art of Fielding, which, in a metafictional flourish, matches the original novel not only in name but plot—as they search for purpose and direction in the wilderness that is one’s twenties. I simply cannot wait.” Read more...
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
The Art of Fielding
by Chad Harbach
N+1 editor Chad Harbach's 2011 campus novel follows a baseball savant at the fictional Westish College—on the shores of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin. Shortstop Henry Skrimshander is socially awkward but extremely gifted; student sports star Mike Schwartz secures Skrimshander a scholarship and offers him 1:1 coaching, revolutionising their college team's fortunes—until Skrimshander suffers a psychological collapse. Though gently comic, the book is a love letter to the community found in small liberal arts colleges, and the transcendence that might be found in repetitive practice.
Interviews with Chad Harbach
Novels with Sporting Themes, recommended by Chad Harbach
Sport is central to American culture but there are surprisingly few great novels devoted to it. Chad Harbach, author of the bestselling novel, The Art of Fielding, picks his favourite ‘novels with sporting themes.’
Interviews where books by Chad Harbach were recommended
The Best Campus Novels
Life in an academic institution can be a curiously intense experience. As a result, the hot-house atmosphere of a university campus or boarding school presents a fitting backdrop for novels exploring ambition, power dynamics, crushes, and sexual crises. Here, we’ve pulled together a list of campus novels that have been recommended on Five Books over the years, via our interviews with literary scholars, bestselling authors and book prize judges.
Notable Novels of Fall 2026, recommended by Cal Flyn
As summer winds up, it’s time to plan our next season of reading. We asked Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn to offer a round-up of the notable new novels of fall 2026—including new writing from Marlon James and Emily St. John Mandel—to help you find a book to curl up with come autumn.
New Literary Fiction
Keep up to date with the best new releases in literary fiction here on Five Books. Our deputy editor, Cal Flyn, an award-winning author herself, writes seasonal round-ups of the best new novels from ‘literary’ writers: from buzzed-about debuts to critics’ darlings, new work from the globally recognised greats and beloved sleeper hits from writers’ writers. We love it all here at Five Books.
