Daniel Handler

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Lore & Background

Handler was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Sandra Handler (née Walpole), a retired City College of San Francisco dean, and Louis Handler, an accountant. His father was a Jewish refugee from Germany in 1939. His mother is distantly related to British writer Hugh Walpole. He attended Commodore Sloat Elementary, Herbert Hoover Middle School, and Lowell High School. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992. He was awarded the 1992 Connecticut Student Poet Prize, which he has said he won by ripping off Elizabeth Bishop. He is married to Lisa Brown, an illustrator he met in college. They have a child, born in 2003. They live in an Edwardian house in San Francisco. Handler describes himself as a secular humanist and "pretty much" an atheist. He describes himself as having developed a "feminist consciousness" while in college. His first book, The Basic Eight, was rejected by many publishers for its subject matter and tone; Handler has said the novel was rejected 37 times before being published in 1999. He wrote the bestselling series of 13 novels A Series of Unfortunate Events under the Snicket pseudonym from 1999 to 2006. From 2012 to 2015, he published the four-part series All the Wrong Questions under the name Lemony Snicket. He has also written adult novels including Watch Your Mouth, Adverbs, Why We Broke Up (which received a 2012 Michael L. Printz honor award), We Are Pirates, and All the Dirty Parts. In music, Handler played accordion on The Magnetic Fields' album 69 Love Songs, and has played accordion in several other Merritt projects including The 6ths and The Gothic Archies, the last of which provided songs for the A Series of Unfortunate Events audiobooks. In 2006, a Gothic Archies album was released with all 13 songs from the 13 audiobooks, along with two bonus songs. In 2017, Handler wrote the play Imaginary Comforts, and The Story of The Ghost of The Dead Rabbit, performed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Handler was involved in the screenwriting process for the film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events but was ultimately removed; he did not take screenwriting credit, saying "I didn't take it because I didn't write it." He was a writer on the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events, also contributing lyrics to the show's theme song. The show won a Peabody Award in 2017. In November 2014, at the National Book Award ceremony, Handler made a controversial remark about author Jacqueline Woodson, saying she was allergic to watermelon. He apologized and donated $10,000 to We Need Diverse Books and promised to match donations up to $100,000. In February 2018, after Handler signed an online pledge to boycott conferences without harassment policies, multiple women accused him of verbal sexual harassment at book conferences. Handler apologized, saying "It has never been my wish to insult any of my professional colleagues" and "I am listening and willing to listen; I am learning and willing to learn." He withdrew from a planned commencement speech at Wesleyan University in March 2018, replaced by Anita Hill.

Reader's Guide

Daniel Handler's significance lies primarily in his creation of the Lemony Snicket persona and the A Series of Unfortunate Events books, which became a cultural phenomenon. The series of 13 novels was published from 1999 to 2006 and adapted into a 2004 film and a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019, the latter winning a Peabody Award in 2017. Handler narrated the audiobooks for three books in the series before handing back to original narrator Tim Curry. From 2012 to 2015, he published the four-part series All the Wrong Questions under the name Lemony Snicket, exploring Snicket's childhood and V.F.D. apprenticeship. Handler's work under his own name includes adult novels such as The Basic Eight (rejected 37 times before publication in 1999), Watch Your Mouth, Adverbs, Why We Broke Up (2012 Michael L. Printz honor award), We Are Pirates, and All the Dirty Parts (2017). His musical contributions include playing accordion on The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs and providing songs for the A Series of Unfortunate Events audiobooks through The Gothic Archies, whose album included all 13 songs plus two bonus tracks. In 2017, he wrote the play Imaginary Comforts, and The Story of The Ghost of The Dead Rabbit, performed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Handler's legacy is also marked by controversy: his 2014 watermelon joke at the National Book Awards drew criticism from Jacqueline Woodson, who wrote an op-ed titled "The Pain of the Watermelon Joke"; Handler donated $10,000 to We Need Diverse Books and promised to match donations up to $100,000. In February 2018, multiple women accused him of verbal sexual harassment at book conferences, leading to his withdrawal from a Wesleyan University commencement speech, replaced by Anita Hill.

Did You Know?

• Handler's first book, The Basic Eight, was rejected 37 times before being published in 1999.
• He won the 1992 Connecticut Student Poet Prize, which he has said he won by ripping off Elizabeth Bishop.
• Handler played accordion on The Magnetic Fields' album 69 Love Songs and in several other Merritt projects including The Gothic Archies.
• He donated $1,000,000 to Planned Parenthood with his wife Lisa Brown.
• Handler narrated the audiobooks for three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events before handing back to original narrator Tim Curry.