Deborah Hautzig was born October 1, 1956, in New York City. She attended Carnegie-Mellon University from 1974 to 1975, then transferred to Sarah Lawrence College where she received her bachelor of arts degree in politics in 1978. Hautzig says she was born to write. "I love to write more than anything else in the world. I feel unified when I write—sort of like being married to myself. Technical ability means nothing without emotional validity, and emotional outpouring without craftsmanship and discipline is ultimately powerless—and usually pretty boring."

The daughter of Walter ( a musician) and Esther (a writer) Hautzig, she grew up in an artistic household. She majored in the fine arts at Carnegie-Mellon University before she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College. Deborah was only twelve years old when her mother's autobiographical novel, The Endless Steppe, was first published. Hautzig has said that she herself would...