Daniel Handler

Daniel Handler (born 1970 in San Francisco) is an American writer best known for publishing children's fiction under the pen name Lemony Snicket. He also writes adult novels under his own name and works in theatre and music. His books mix dark humour, playful self-reference and grim subject matter, and they have found a wide readership well beyond children's shelves.

Handler grew up in San Francisco, the son of a Jewish refugee from Germany and a former dean at City College. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992. Before writing full time he played accordion in several bands, including The Magnetic Fields on the three-album set 69 Love Songs. His first novel, The Basic Eight (1999), was turned down by many publishers because of its bleak view of a teenage girl's life; by his own account it was rejected 37 times. Watch Your Mouth followed, with an operatic structure, and then Adverbs (2005), a collection of stories about love.

The Snicket persona began as a practical disguise. Handler first used the name so he would not sign his real name to the mailing lists of groups he was researching for a novel. Over time the narrator became a character in his own right, complete with invented biographies and closing messages that add mystery and comedy. The thirteen volumes of A Series of Unfortunate Events (1999-2006) follow the Baudelaire orphans as they are pursued by Count Olaf. Handler later wrote the four-part All the Wrong Questions (2012-2015), which covers Snicket's own youth.

His legacy lies mainly in ironic children's and young adult fiction. The series was adapted into a film in 2004 and into a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019, for which he worked as a writer. He has also published adult novels under his own name and plays, including Imaginary Comforts (2017).