Living Writers: Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel

Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel are the authors of the novel Dayswork, which was named a best or notable book of 2023 by The Washington Post, The Paris Review, NPR, and Kirkus, among others.

Bachelder is the author of four previous novels, including The Throwback Special, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Terry Southern Prize for Humor. His short fiction and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeney's, The New York Times, and The Sewanee Review, and he is the recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Habel is the author of the poetry collections Good Reason and The Book of Jane, which won the Iowa Poetry Prize. As both a poet and a novelist, she has received four Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, and her work has been published in The Sewanee Review, The Believer, Gettysburg Review, and Gulf Coast. Married since 2002, Habel and Bachelder live in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their novel in progress, a companion to Dayswork, is tentatively titled Housework.

The pair will visit Colgate as part of the 2026 Living Writers series. View the complete list of author visits.

If you are unable to attend the author visit, you can sign up to virtually join.

This series is hosted by the Department of English and Creative Writing with generous support provided by the Parshley Christ Endowment for Living Writers, the Olive B. O'Connor Foundation, as well as the Offices of the Provost/Dean and the Office of the President.