Dov Zeller fell in love with existential comedy when first introduced to the writing of Grace Paley, Bruno Schulz, and Clarice Lispector (Kafka, Ozick, Svevo, and Agnon). But even before he chanced upon his beloved existential comedians, he was drawn toward fictional characters whose tragic dilemmas were half-created and half-resolved by unlikely loves and pratfalls. He is interested in the tragicomic form and the tension between form and function of the comic novel, and intrigued by the places where tragicomedy and existential slapstick meet.

 

Before getting sick, he struggled to sit still and often read while walking (in between swimming, biking, and yoga). Now he is an intrepid recliner on a handful of couches and love seats. Though sick with a devastating chronic illness, he is determined to appreciate the ecosystems he comes into contact with. As it turns out, even a small world is full of endless complexity.

 

He enjoys visiting with friends, reading, listening to audiobooks and classical guitar, and observing birds who drop by the window feeder. Zeller has spent the last eight years in Western Massachusetts where he moved in order to complete an MFA in fiction at Umass, Amherst. He has also lived in San Francisco and Oakland, California, and Brooklyn, NY, and he grew up in eastern Pennsylvania.

• 11 Awesome LGBT Frindly Books, Pretty Progressive, May 5, 2019
• Interview with Writer Dov Zeller, The Handy Uncapped Pen, April 13, 2018

I Loved This Book

“Things I love about this book: The dialogue - it’s colorful, and spot on for old New York - “The Roths of this world are a strange lot. They turn you upside down and shake you for whatever you’re worth. As far as the Roths of this world go, he’s not so bad. Some Roths shake you more than others. This one has at least a heart. On certain days of the week.” and - “Enough of nothing,” Doris said...“The world is made of nothing. If it were up to you, you’d paint the world with nothing-colored nothing. Don’t give me nothing.” The characters - they feel real, and I fell in love with them. I love Clem, a self-described “butch,” who is unapologetically a “ladies man.” And Doris, described this way: “She was on the thin side and shorted all the time but she made up for it with might and with hair.” The imagery - dreams and reality are very fluid, and the descriptions of nature and of people are gorgeous.”

—Sami Perkins, Good Reads, 5 stars

 

A Dream-Like Immersion!

“This is a dream-like immersion into the world of Ida Velikowsky who, as a transmasculine child growing up in the 1930s, is rejected by her mother for being different. Ida flees to New York City where she is befriended by people like herself. She finds work in a factory during the war and is on the cusp of falling in love when life deals a staggering blow. She retreats further into herself and the reader experiences the world as Ida experiences it: disconnected from the body, but not entirely from pleasure. She reemerges slowly and then all at once when she is forced to contend with an upstairs neighbor in crisis.”

—Cathy, Good Reads, 5 stars

 

Marvelous!

“Book of Hats...is MARVELOUS! It’s bursting with richness...gorgeously written...heartbreaking...often hilarious. Kudos to Dov Zeller!!!! [A] beautiful book!”

—Elyse Walters, Good Reads, 5 stars

 

A Must-Read!

"Book of Hats, is an entrancing, funny, heartbreaking, frightening, beautifully written novel!...Book of Hats begins with...splendid surrealism. But as Ida grows, as perhaps in real life, the surrealism lessens for the reader to experience the full extent of Ida’s pain and feeling of being different. But, as with Life of Pi, the surrealism helps Ida’s heartbreaking story to be more palatable. This is a must read for anyone who has ever felt different, and especially for those who never have."

—Eric Houston, Good Reads, 5 stars

 

Transmasculine in the 1930s

"Dov Zeller is a story master and a good writer. We are so much in need of books like this and I really hope that Dov Zeller is opening the door for other to follow him through even though he is a tough act to follow."

—Amos Lassen, Reviews by Amos Lassen, April 2, 2018

• American Library Association, Over the Rainbow, Literary and General Interest Fiction, Top 10 Recommended List, 2019