Hello! I’m Chad Luibl — literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit Associates, hockey dad, guitarist, and coffee enthusiast.

I grew up in Virginia and developed an early love for the written word. As a kid, every weekend began with a trip to the Pohick Library in Burke, where my parents would let my brothers and I run wild between the stacks and pick any book we wanted. Didn’t matter if it was The Boxcar Children or The Silence of the Lambs — so long that we were excited about reading, it was considered a win. Books became everything. Soon I was skipping recess to devour the latest Stephen King or Michael Crichton novel. In high school, I discovered Vonnegut and Dostoevsky. Later, I fell hard for the works of Raymond Carver, Toni Morrison, Donna Tartt, Sándor Márai, David Mitchell…. (Recent favorites include Daniel Mason’s North Woods, and Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore.)

My academic years, which included a Bachelor's in Literature and an MA in European Studies, were punctuated by brief periods of teaching English in Poland and Hungary, and also touring as a guitarist in several metal bands. Later, I returned to Virginia for an MFA in Creative Writing at VCU, where I also edited for Blackbird and Broad Street literary journals.

In 2014, I moved to New York and joined Janklow & Nesbit Associates. As a literary agent, I champion compelling narratives while building a diverse list of original voices, including USA Today Bestsellers; National Jewish Book Award winners; Shirley Jackson Award and Golden Poppy Award winners; Eisner and Ignatz winners; Pen Faulkner Award and Bram Stoker finalists; and several Indie Next and Book Club selections.

I’m particularly drawn to:

Literary and book club fiction: Novels that delve into the complexities of the human condition. I tend to lean into character-driven or plotty novels with brisk pacing.

Speculative and historical fiction: Works that offer a fresh perspective on a setting or time period, while also feeling relevant to contemporary issues and themes.

Inventive horror and thrillers: Page-turners that are as gripping as they are intellectually stimulating. Most importantly, even the horror has got to have heart.

Narrative nonfiction and journalism: Compelling storytelling that couldn’t be better summarized in an essay or article. Most nonfiction I go for reads like a novel. I’m particularly interested in memoir, untold histories, sports and adventure stories.

Graphic novels: That push the boundaries of visual narrative.

Readers and writers, I’d love to hear from you. For submissions, please refer to J&N's guidelines, or feel free to email me directly at cluibl@janklow.com.