Daniel Handler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daniel Handler
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Handler at a party for the release of The End in 2006.
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| Born | February 28, 1970 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Pen name | Lemony Snicket |
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| Period | 1998–present |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Notable works | A Series of Unfortunate Events, All the Wrong Questions, The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, Adverbs |
| Spouse | Lisa Brown |
| Children | 1 |
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Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970) is an American writer, musician, and producer. He is most famous for his children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions. He wrote these books using the pen name Lemony Snicket.
A Series of Unfortunate Events was so popular that it was made into a movie in 2004 and a Netflix show from 2017 to 2019.
Besides his Lemony Snicket books, Handler has also written novels for adults under his real name. He is also a talented musician who plays the accordion and has performed with several bands.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Daniel Handler was born in San Francisco, California. His father, Louis Handler, was an accountant, and his mother, Sandra Handler, was a dean at a college. His father was a Jewish refugee who came to the United States from Germany in 1939. Handler has a younger sister named Rebecca.
From a young age, Handler loved to read. He was a fan of authors like Edward Gorey and Roald Dahl. He attended Lowell High School in San Francisco and later graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992.
Handler is married to Lisa Brown, an artist and illustrator whom he met in college. They have one child and live in San Francisco.
Writing Career
Handler has written several books for adults, but he is most famous for the books he wrote as Lemony Snicket.
Books as Daniel Handler
Handler's first novel, The Basic Eight, tells a dark story about a teenage girl's life. Because of its serious topics, many publishers did not want to release it at first. It was finally published in 1999.
His second novel, Watch Your Mouth, is written in a unique style that is similar to an opera, with stage directions and different acts. He has also written other books like Adverbs, a collection of short stories about love, and We Are Pirates, a story about a modern-day pirate.
The World of Lemony Snicket
Daniel Handler created the character Lemony Snicket as his pen name, or pseudonym. Lemony Snicket is not just a name on a book cover; he is also a character in the stories. Snicket is a mysterious, sad writer who acts as the narrator and biographer of the Baudelaire orphans.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
From 1999 to 2006, Handler wrote the 13-book series A Series of Unfortunate Events. The series follows the lives of three orphans: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their parents die in a fire, they are sent to live with a terrible villain named Count Olaf, who tries to steal their family fortune.
The books are famous for their dark humor, clever wordplay, and sad but exciting stories. Handler himself narrated the audiobooks for three of the books in the series.
All the Wrong Questions
Between 2012 and 2015, Handler published a four-book series called All the Wrong Questions. These books are prequels to A Series of Unfortunate Events. They tell the story of Lemony Snicket's own childhood and his training with a secret organization called V.F.D.
Music and Other Projects
Besides writing, Handler is also a musician. He plays the accordion and was in a few bands after college. He is well known for playing the accordion on the album 69 Love Songs by the band The Magnetic Fields.
He also worked with a band called The Gothic Archies to create music for the A Series of Unfortunate Events audiobooks. In 2006, the band released an album called The Tragic Treasury, which included a song for each of the 13 books in the series.
Film and Television Work
Handler has also worked in the movie and television industry. He helped write the screenplays for a few films.
When A Series of Unfortunate Events was made into a movie in 2004, Handler was involved in the writing process at first. He also recorded a special commentary track for the DVD. In the commentary, he pretends to be Lemony Snicket and makes funny comments about the movie.
Handler was a writer and executive producer for the Netflix show A Series of Unfortunate Events. He also wrote the lyrics for the show's theme song. The show was very successful and won a Peabody Award in 2017 for being an excellent program for children.
Selected Works
Discography
- 69 Love Songs – The Magnetic Fields
- Hyacinths and Thistles – The 6ths
- The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events – The Gothic Archies
- Distortion – The Magnetic Fields
- The Composer Is Dead – A project with Nathaniel Stookey
- Realism – The Magnetic Fields
- Love at the Bottom of the Sea – The Magnetic Fields
Filmography
- Kill the Poor (2003) – screenplay
- Rick (2003) – writer
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) – based on his books
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–2019) – writer and executive producer
See also
In Spanish: Daniel Handler para niños
