{{short description|American writer (born 1975)}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | name = Chad Harbach | image = Chad harbach 2011.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Chad Harbach at the 2011 Texas Book Festival. | birth_name = Chad Daniel Harbach<ref name=MFA/> | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1975}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | education = [[Harvard University]]<br>[[University of Virginia]] ([[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]]) | occupation = Editor, writer | nationality = American }} '''Chad Harbach''' (born 1975<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.themodernnovel.org/americas/other-americas/usa/harbach/|title=Chad Harbach | the Modern Novel}}</ref>) is an American writer. An editor at the journal ''[[n+1]]'', he is the author of the 2011 novel ''[[The Art of Fielding]]''.
==Early life and education== Harbach grew up in [[Racine, Wisconsin]]. His father was an accountant and his mother the head of a [[Montessori]] school.<ref>Philip Boroff, "Unemployed Harvard Man Auctions Baseball Novel for $650,000," Bloomberg.com, March 31, 2010.</ref> Harbach graduated from [[Harvard University]], where he befriended fellow writers and journalists [[Keith Gessen]] and [[Benjamin Kunkel]].<ref>Gessen, "How a Book is Born."</ref> He received an [[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]] from the [[University of Virginia]]<ref name="Harvard">Boroff, "Harvard Man Auctions Baseball Novel," Bloomberg.com</ref> in 2004.<ref name=MFA>{{cite book |url=https://majorevents.virginia.edu/sites/majorevents2017.virginia.edu/files/program_graduates04.pdf |title=One Hundred and Seventy-Fifth Final Exercises |date=May 16, 2004 |page=29 |publisher=University of Virginia <!--|accessdate=2021-02-11-->}}</ref>
==''n+1''== In 2004, [[Mark Greif]], Gessen, Harbach, Kunkel, and Marco Roth launched the literary journal ''[[n+1]]'';<ref>Susan Hodara, "Intellectual Entrepreneurs: A highbrow journal rises in an era of sound bites," ''Harvard Magazine'', January–February, 2010.</ref> Harbach had come up with the name as early as 1998.<ref>A.O. Scott, "Among the Believers, The New York Times Magazine," September 11, 2005.</ref> Harbach is both an editor and writer for the journal, contributing essays on [[environmentalism]], [[David Foster Wallace]], and the [[Boston Red Sox]].<ref>[http://nplusonemag.com/authors/harbach-chad n + 1 Archive Chad Harbach]</ref>
==''The Art of Fielding''== Harbach worked on his novel ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' for nine years.<ref name="Harvard" /> The novel, set at Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, tells the story of the gifted young shortstop Henry Skrimshander, whose errant throw upends the lives of five people. In high school, Harbach had played baseball, along with golf and basketball; in March 2010, he told [[Bloomberg News]], "What fascinates me about baseball is that although it's a team game, and a team becomes a kind of family, the players on the field are each very much alone. Your teammates depend on you and support you, but at the moments that count they can't bail you out."<ref name="Harvard" />
After a heated auction ($665,000),<ref>[https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/amerikas-neuer-literaturstar-willkommen-in-der-topliga-junge-11620550.html Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 23.01.2012 ]</ref> the book was acquired and published by [[Little, Brown and Company|Little, Brown]] in the fall of 2011. A ''Vanity Fair'' e-book describing the writing and publication of the novel was later released. ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' was met with extraordinary critical praise. In ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Michiko Kakutani]] wrote, "[[The Art of Fielding]] is not only a wonderful baseball novel—it zooms immediately into the pantheon of classics, alongside ''[[The Natural]]'' by [[Bernard Malamud]] and ''[[The Southpaw]]'' by [[Mark Harris (author)|Mark Harris]]—but it's also a magical, melancholy story about friendship and coming of age that marks the debut of an immensely talented writer."
==''MFA vs NYC''== Harbach edited a book about two American writing cultures, released in February 2014. The book was based on Harbach's widely read essay "MFA vs NYC," and featured essays by n+1 contributors such as Elif Batuman and Keith Gessen, as well as the novelist George Saunders. The Times's Dwight Garner described it as a "serious, helpful and wily book."
== ''The Brightness'' == In February 2026, Little Brown announced that it would publish Harbach's second novel, ''The Brightness'', in October 2026. Like ''The Art of Fielding'', the new book will be set at Westish College, a fictional liberal arts school in [[Wisconsin]], as well as in [[New York City]]. It will focus on a character who appeared in the first novel, Pella Affenlight, the daughter of the college's former president, and her friend Irma.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stewart {{!}} |first=Sophia |title=Book Deals: Week of March 2, 2026 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/99792-book-deals-week-of-march-2-2026.html |access-date=2026-05-12 |website=PublishersWeekly.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=New Novel by Chad Harbach Coming This Fall |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/new-novel-by-chad-harbach-coming-this-fall/ |access-date=2026-05-12 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>
Harbach said in a statement that '''"'''''The Brightness'' is Pella’s book, and that of her friends and lovers, as she strives both to put down roots and find transcendence. The world she moves through is a multifarious one, encompassing a sleepy college thrust into the culture-war spotlight, a sun-splashed wedding on [[Block Island]], and a New York City of service jobs, glittering parties, and neglected second-wave art."<ref name=":0" />
==Awards and recognition== *2011 ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' named on ''[[The New York Times]]'' Best Books of 2011 list *2011 ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' named [[Amazon.com|Amazon]]'s Best Book of the Year *2012 Bottari Lattes Grinzane nominee for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 Friends of American Writers Book of the Year for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 [[The Guardian First Book Award]] nominee for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 [[International Dublin Literary Award]] longlist for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 Library of Virginia Literary Award nominee for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 [[Los Angeles Times Book Prize]] nominee for Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 Midwest Booksellers Choice Award for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award nominee for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' *2012 Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award for ''[[The Art of Fielding]]''
==Controversy== In September, 2017, writer Charles C. Green sued Chad Harbach claiming "large-scale misappropriation" by Harbach. The suit noted a very strong plot and style resemblance between ''[[The Art of Fielding]]'' and Green's previously completed screenplay, ''Bucky's 9th''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hamilton|first1=B. Colby|title=Author of 'The Art of Fielding' Accused of Pilfering Plot Points|url=http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202798113076/Author-of-The-Art-of-Fielding-Accused-of-Pilfering-Plot-Points?mcode=1202617075062&curindex=0&slreturn=20170815144322|publisher=New York Law Journal}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Stempel|first1=Jonathan|title=Author of 'The Art of Fielding' committed an error, rival says in lawsuit|date=15 September 2017|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/theartoffielding-lawsuit/author-of-the-art-of-fielding-committed-an-error-rival-says-in-lawsuit-idUSL2N1LW0KP|agency=Reuters / Westlaw News}}</ref> Green claimed Harbach had somehow seen an unpublished version of his manuscript.
In July, 2018, Green's suit was dismissed.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://nplusonemag.com/authors/harbach-chad n + 1 Archive Chad Harbach] *[https://www.npr.org/2011/10/01/140846356/zen-and-the-art-of-fielding-baseball-as-life Chad Harbach and ''The Art of Fielding'' on NPR] *[https://www.npr.org/2010/12/12/132014954/Universities-Gain-Power-In-Literary-World Chad Harbach discusses writing programs on NPR] *[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/books/review/the-art-of-fielding-by-chad-harbach-book-review.html ''The New York Times Book Review'' on ''The Art of Fielding''] *[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/11BELIEVERS.html A.O. Scott in ''The New York Times Magazine'' on n + 1] * ''<span class="plainlinks">[https://archive.org/details/LehighCarbonCommunityCollegesReadFirstAskLater Radio Interview with Chad Harbach on "Read First, Ask Later" (Ep. 26)]</span>''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbach, Chad}} [[Category:1975 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Harvard College alumni]] [[Category:University of Virginia alumni]] [[Category:21st-century American novelists]] [[Category:American male novelists]] [[Category:Writers from Racine, Wisconsin]] [[Category:American editors]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:Novelists from Wisconsin]]