# Daniel Handler
**Daniel Handler** is an American author who writes novels for adults under his own name and children's books under the pen name **Lemony Snicket**, most notably the thirteen-volume series *A Series of Unfortunate Events*.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) His books have sold more than 70 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) He lives in San Francisco with the illustrator Lisa Brown, his wife and frequent collaborator.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pen name | Lemony Snicket, under which he writes for younger readers; Handler appears in public as Snicket's "official representative in all legal, literary and social matters"[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/31453-pw-talks-with-daniel-handler.html) |
| Best-known work | *A Series of Unfortunate Events*, 13 volumes, over 70 million copies sold worldwide[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [3](https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Daniel-Handler/224569242) |
| Adult novels | Seven, including *The Basic Eight*, *Why We Broke Up*, *We Are Pirates*, *All The Dirty Parts*, and *Bottle Grove*[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [4](https://bookmarks.reviews/point-counterpoint-daniel-handlers-bottle-grove/) |
| Awards | Charlotte Zolotow Award for *The Dark*; Peabody and Writers Guild of America awards for the *A Series of Unfortunate Events* adaptation[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) |
| Education | Graduated in American Studies from Wesleyan University in Connecticut[5](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/lemony-snicket-be-very-afraid-5359741.html) |
| Home | San Francisco, California[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [3](https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Daniel-Handler/224569242) |
## Origins of Lemony Snicket
Handler began writing as a poet while attending [Wesleyan University](https://www.edgepedia.org/wesleyan-university) in [Connecticut](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut).[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-09-cl-43736-story.html) After graduating in American Studies he settled in New York to try to make it as a writer.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/lemony-snicket-be-very-afraid-5359741.html) There he met Susan Rich, an editor at [HarperCollins](https://www.edgepedia.org/harpercollins), who read his first novel *The Basic Eight* and liked its narrating voice; she asked whether he had considered writing for children.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/lemony-snicket-be-very-afraid-5359741.html) By way of demonstrating the unsellable book he would probably produce, he described a story he had carried in his head about a sinister Count, adding children for the Count to pursue. Four books were commissioned on the strength of that outline and published cautiously in autumn 1999; the response was immediate enough that four more were signed up, and the series ran to 13 volumes, each with 13 chapters.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/lemony-snicket-be-very-afraid-5359741.html)
The series opens with *[The Bad Beginning](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-beginning)*, whose first sentence warns readers interested in happy endings to look elsewhere.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/03/lemony-snicket-a-series-of-unfortunate-events-at-20) It follows the orphaned Baudelaire children and their pursuer Count Olaf, and is marked by black humor, alliteration, literary references, and a refusal of easy moral lessons. Death enters on page 8 of the first book and recurs throughout.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-09-cl-43736-story.html) A Guardian retrospective credited the series with taking children seriously, presenting adults who fail the children in their care and a moral gray area in which the orphans themselves commit acts comparable to their enemies'.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/03/lemony-snicket-a-series-of-unfortunate-events-at-20) Handler revealed in 2007 that the Baudelaires are Jewish.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/03/lemony-snicket-a-series-of-unfortunate-events-at-20) The books have also drawn objections: a school in [Decatur, Georgia](https://www.edgepedia.org/decatur-georgia), canceled his reading and banned the books over the incestuous marriage plot of *The Bad Beginning* and the word "damn" in *[The Reptile Room](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-reptile-room)*.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-09-cl-43736-story.html)
Handler maintains the conceit that Snicket is a separate person. In a 2002 Publishers Weekly interview he described himself as appearing in place of Snicket at author appearances, and the persona extends to the books themselves, in which Snicket serves as narrator.[2](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/31453-pw-talks-with-daniel-handler.html)
## Books for adults
Under his own name Handler has published seven novels.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) *The Basic Eight*, his first, follows Flannery Culp, a 19-year-old convicted of murder, who annotates her high-school journals to tell her real story.[8](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-19833-6) His second, *Watch Your Mouth*, is a baroque comic novel structured as an opera, involving the golem myth.[9](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312209407) Later novels include *Why We Broke Up* (with illustrations by Maira Kalman), *We Are Pirates*, *All The Dirty Parts*, and *Bottle Grove*, his seventh, set against San Francisco's Silicon Valley.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [4](https://bookmarks.reviews/point-counterpoint-daniel-handlers-bottle-grove/) *Bottle Grove received polarizing reviews: Publishers Weekly found his trademark humor intact, while a New York Times review by Joshua Ferris judged that no character took root in the reader's heart.[4](https://bookmarks.reviews/point-counterpoint-daniel-handlers-bottle-grove/)
His 2024 book *And Then? And Then? What Else?*, published by Liveright/W.W. Norton, is a book on writing rather than a straightforward memoir: a sequence of 13 essays built around his personal literary canon, growing out of an introduction he wrote to a new translation of Baudelaire's *Les Fleurs du Mal*.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [10](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2024/07/27/lemony-snicket-and-then-and-then-what-else-a-writers-life-by-daniel-handler-a-thoughtful-and-eloquent-celebration-of-story/)
## Other work and collaborations
Handler has received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the [Royal Shakespeare Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-shakespeare-company).[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) With the artist Maira Kalman he has made a series of books for the [Museum of Modern Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/museum-of-modern-art) in New York, including *Girls Standing on Lawns*, *Hurry Up and Wait*, and *Weather, Weather*.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [11](https://www.slj.com/author?query=Daniel+Handler) He has collaborated with musicians including Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, and Torquil Campbell of Stars; he played accordion on the Magnetic Fields' *[69 Love Songs](https://www.edgepedia.org/69-love-songs)*.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/) • [12](https://www.salon.com/2006/06/14/conversations_handler/)
## Adaptations
A film based on the first three books, starring [Jim Carrey](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-carrey) and [Meryl Streep](https://www.edgepedia.org/meryl-streep), was released in 2004.[13](https://www.harpercollins.de/pages/autorinnen-und-autoren/lemony-snicket) Handler reportedly wrote eight separate drafts of the film screenplay before giving up and being replaced by Robert Gordon.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/07/how-old-child-need-be-appreciate-lemony-snicket-daniel-handler-interview) A Netflix series adaptation ran from 2017 to 2019.[13](https://www.harpercollins.de/pages/autorinnen-und-autoren/lemony-snicket) For the recent adaptation of *A Series of Unfortunate Events* Handler received both a Peabody Award and a Writers Guild of America Award.[1](https://www.danielhandler.com/)
## 2014 National Book Awards controversy
At the National Book Awards in New York, where Jacqueline Woodson won the award for young people's literature for *Brown Girl Dreaming*, Handler made a remark that was widely attacked as racist. Woodson, who is Black, wrote a piece for the New York Times arguing that in making light of that deep and troubled history he had "come from a place of ignorance," and Handler apologized.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/07/how-old-child-need-be-appreciate-lemony-snicket-daniel-handler-interview)
## References
1. [Daniel Handler, official website](https://www.danielhandler.com/)
2. [PW Talks with Daniel Handler, Publishers Weekly (May 6, 2002)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/31453-pw-talks-with-daniel-handler.html)
3. [Daniel Handler, Official Publisher Page, Simon & Schuster UK](https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Daniel-Handler/224569242)
4. [Point/Counterpoint: Daniel Handler's Bottle Grove, Book Marks (August 29, 2019)](https://bookmarks.reviews/point-counterpoint-daniel-handlers-bottle-grove/)
5. [Lemony Snicket: Be very afraid, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/lemony-snicket-be-very-afraid-5359741.html)
6. [The Father to a Popular Bunch of Orphans, Los Angeles Times (September 9, 2001)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-09-cl-43736-story.html)
7. [Wicked wonder: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events at 20, The Guardian (October 3, 2019)](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/03/lemony-snicket-a-series-of-unfortunate-events-at-20)
8. [Review of The Basic Eight, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-19833-6)
9. [Review of Watch Your Mouth, Publishers Weekly (July 3, 2000)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312209407)
10. [Review of And Then? And Then? What Else?, The Irish Times (July 27, 2024)](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2024/07/27/lemony-snicket-and-then-and-then-what-else-a-writers-life-by-daniel-handler-a-thoughtful-and-eloquent-celebration-of-story/)
11. [Daniel Handler author page, School Library Journal](https://www.slj.com/author?query=Daniel+Handler)
12. [Conversations: Daniel Handler, aka "Lemony Snicket", Salon (June 14, 2006)](https://www.salon.com/2006/06/14/conversations_handler/)
13. [Lemony Snicket author page, HarperCollins Germany](https://www.harpercollins.de/pages/autorinnen-und-autoren/lemony-snicket)
14. [Daniel Handler interview, The Guardian (February 7, 2015)](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/07/how-old-child-need-be-appreciate-lemony-snicket-daniel-handler-interview)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Children's, comics, and media-genre writers › Children's and YA authors › Middle grade and classic children's authors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license