About the Author

Mort Zachter was born in Brooklyn. His first book, Dough: A Memoir, won the 2006 AWP Prize in Creative Nonfiction. It was translated into Chinese and published in China and Taiwan. His essay, "The Boy Who Didn't Like Money" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He is a member of SABR. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Reviews

Dough is rising! More than just a story about bread or money, it's a beautifully written family memoir--with an astonishing twist!--that brings to life a vanished Lower East Side and the people who walked its streets. Mort Zachter's keen eye and humor will keep you reading way past your bedtime.--Hettie Jones "author of All Told"

[A] small, wry memoir . . . that is miraculously loving and nonjudgmental as it is cleareyed.--Anne Mendelson "New York Times Book Review"

Rich in spirit and detail, Dough is a sweet, wistful, and eloquent tale of faith, family and the real meaning of wealth.--Debra Ginsberg "author of Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress"

This rich story pays off with honest but lighthearted discoveries about loyalty and wealth-- "Publishers Weekly"

What if, after a life of struggle, you found out you were about to inherit several million dollars? Run to the Mercedes dealer? Call your travel agent? Call Paine Webber? Mort Zachter did none of the above. Mort turned first into an investigator, trying to unlock the mystery of how his modest, bread-selling family amassed a secret fortune. And then Mort turned into a writer, putting down the tale in this delightful and elegant book. Read it. It will make you smile and see that sometimes good things happen to good people.--Ari L. Goldman "author of Living a Year of Kaddish"

With a sense of detail as sharp as the perceptions of a quietly observing child and with the insight and compassion of an adult, Mort Zachter takes us back to the Manhattan of the sixties, where he gracefully and wittily examines the mysteries--and baffling complexities--of family, work, love and sacrifice.--Elizabeth Frank "Pulitzer Prize winning author of Louise Bogan"

If Zachter shares New York with Volk and Gallagher, his writerly godfather is Calvin Trillin, who wrote with affection and restraint. . . . [Dough has a] similarity in tone--reserved and respectful . . . As is true of the best memoirists, he comes to a deeper understanding of himself--of what it means to carry on in the present, now that the past has been revealed.-- "Los Angeles Times"