Daniel Handler | Author

Daniel Handler
Author of the renowned “Series of Unfortunate Events” books, under the name Lemony

Latest News & Events

“The Great Night” in Buena Vista Park

Sep.18.2011

Co-presented by Booksmith, Buena Vista Neighborhood Association, San Francisco Recreation & Park Department, and San Francisco Parks Alliance

You are cordially invited to a picnic party in Buena Vista Park to celebrate Chris Adrian’s novel The Great Night, with fairies, maypoles, and twinkle lights. Pack a basket, bring a blanket, and join us for magic and revelry at the summit overlooking the city below.

Featured readings and performance by Great Night author Chris Adrian, author Andrew Sean Greer, and emcee Daniel Handler, with fairy-inspired merriment provided by...

Featured Works

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PUBLISHED: Dec.27.2011

Why We Broke Up (with Maira Kalman)

I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened. Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.05.2010

13 Words (with Maira Kalman)

13 Words: 1. Bird 2. Despondent 3. Cake 4. Dog 5. Busy 6. Convertible 7. Goat 8. Hat 9. Haberdashery 10. Scarlet 11. Baby 12. Panache 13. Mezzo-Soprano

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PUBLISHED: Oct.13.2006

The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13)

Picking up from the final pages of the Pentultimate Peril, this farewell installment to the ridiculously (and deservedly!) popular A Series of Unfortunate Events places our protagonists right where we last left them: on a large, wooden boat in the middle of the ocean, trapped with their nemesis Count Olaf, who has armed himself with a helmet-full of deadly Medusoid Mycelium.

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PUBLISHED: Mar.01.2009

The Composer Is Dead

There's dreadful news from the symphony hall—the composer is dead! If you have ever heard an orchestra play, then you know that musicians are most certainly guilty of something. Where exactly were the violins on the night in question? Did anyone see the harp? Is the trumpet protesting a bit too boisterously? In this perplexing murder mystery, everyone seems to have a motive,...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.28.2007

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story (with Lisa Brown)

Latkes are potato pancakes served at Hanukkah. Lemony Snicket is an alleged children’s book author. Lisa Brown is an alleged illustrator. For the first time in literary history, these three elements are combined in one book. People who are interested in any or all of these things will find this book so enjoyable it will feel as if Hanukkah is being celebrated for several years,...

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PUBLISHED: Apr.01.2007

Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid

Life is a turbulent journey, fraught with confusion, heartbreak, and inconvenience. Unfortunately, this book will not help. Instead, this book of wit and wisdom offers a selection of alarming but inescapable truths from the work of Lemony Snicket, along with selections from his unpublished papers and remarks he has made at dinner parties and anarchist riots.

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PUBLISHED: Apr.11.2006

Adverbs

Can Joe help it if he falls in love with people who don’t make him happy? And what about Helena—she’s in love, but somehow this isn’t enough. Shouldn’t it be? And if it isn’t enough, does this mean she’s not really in love? It certainly seems to be spoiling the love she’s in. And let’s say there’s a volcano underneath the city—doesn’t that make things more urgent? Does urgency...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.18.2005

The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 12)

Dear Reader, If this is the first book you found while searching for a book to read next, then the first thing you should know is that the next-to-last book is what you should put down first. Sadly, this book presents the next-to-last chronicle in the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, and it is next-to-first in its supply of misery, despair, and unpleasantness. Probably the next-...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.21.2004

The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunat Events, Book 11)

Warning: Your day will become very dark—and possibly damp—if you read this book. Plan to spend this spring in hiding. Lemony Snicket is back with the eleventh book in his New York Times bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket’s saga about the charming, intelligent and grossly unlucky Baudelaire orphans continues to provoke suspicion and despair in readers the...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.01.2003

The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 10)

Snicket’s saga about the charming, intelligent, and grossly unlucky Baudelaire orphans continues to alarm its distressed and suspicious fans the world over. The tenth book in this outrageous publishing effort features more than the usual dose of distressing details. With the weather turning colder, this is one chilling book you would be better off without.

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PUBLISHED: Oct.29.2002

The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 9)

In the ninth title in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Carnivorous Carnival, the Baudelaire siblings are falsely accused of murder. On the run from Count Olaf (the real killer), the three disguise themselves in Madame Lulu’s House of Freaks; Violet and Klaus masquerade as the two-headed Beverly/Elliot; Sunny poses as Chabo the Wolf Baby.

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PUBLISHED: May.01.2002

Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography

A Warning from the Publisher: Many readers have questions about Lemony Snicket, author of the distressing serial concerning the trials of the charming but unlucky Baudelaire orphans, published under the collective title A Series of Unfortunate Events. Before purchasing, borrowing, or stealing this book, you should be aware that it contains the answers to some of those questions,...

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PUBLISHED: Mar.01.2002

Watch Your Mouth

Tolstoy wrote that happy families are alike and that each unhappy family is unhappy in a different way. In Watch Your Mouth, Daniel Handler takes “different” to a whole new level. Handler writes this satire on family life as part opera, part self-help program, with horrific acts taking place offstage that involve the Jewish myth of the golem, a terrifying creature made of clay that...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.04.2001

The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 8)

Dear Reader, Before you throw this awful book to the ground and run as far away from it as possible, you should probably know why. This book is the only one which describes every last detail of the Baudelaire children’s miserable stay at Heimlich Hospital, which makes it one of the most dreadful books in the world. There are many pleasant things to read about, but this books...

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PUBLISHED: Aug.01.2001

The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 5)

Tales of a rollicking good time at boarding school with fun classes and friendly chums will not appear in this darkly humorous story from A Series of Unfortunate Events. Three unfortunate siblings encounter sour classmates and mean-spirited teachers, along with a host of other dreadful situations. Follow these poor lads as they amuse your middle-grader with tales of suffering at...

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PUBLISHED: Apr.24.2001

The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 7)

I can think of no single reason why anyone would want to open a book containing such unpleasant matters as migrating crows, an angry mob, a newspaper headline, the arrest of innocent people, the Deluxe Cell, and some very strange hats. It is my solemn and sacred occupation to research each detail of the Baudelaire children’s lives and write them all down, but you may prefer to do...

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PUBLISHED: Feb.20.2001

The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 6)

In their most daring misadventure, the Baudelaire orphans are adopted by very, very rich people, whose penthouse apartment is located mysteriously close to the place where all their misfortune began. Even though their new home in the city is fancy, and the children are clever and charming, I’m sorry to say that still, the unlucky orphans will encounter more disaster and woe. In...

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PUBLISHED: Aug.01.2000

The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 4)

Dear Reader, I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this story because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put it down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. This book, I’m sorry to inform you, contains such...

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PUBLISHED: Jan.01.2000

The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 3)

This is the third book in the horrifically popular A Series of Unfortunate Events. Are you still there? No? Good. Oh heavens, you’re back. That heart palpitation is never a good sign. But neither is a hurricane. Or a leech. Or a signal in a sinking boat full of orphans and a scared aunt. But the worst sign is the one that says, “Over 51 million books in print!” Of course, that...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.01.1999

The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1)

Imagine tales so terrible that as many as 50 million innocents have been ruined by them—tales so indelibly horrid that the New York Times bestseller list was unable to rid itself of them for seven years. Begin at the beginning—even if it is a bad one—with the first in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

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PUBLISHED: Sep.01.1999

The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 2)

Within the pages of this novel, readers will discover one of the books upon which the movie Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is based: The Reptile Room. Like the movie, this book tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children, who despite being pleasant lead unpleasant lives. From the very beginning of this volume, when the children are driving down a bad-...

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PUBLISHED: Apr.01.1999

The Basic Eight

Flannery Culp wants you to know the whole story of her spectacularly awful senior year. Tyrants, perverts, tragic crushes, gossip, cruel jokes, and the hallucinatory effects of absinthe—Flannery and the seven other friends in the Basic Eight have suffered through it all. But now, on tabloid television, they’re calling Flannery a murderer, which is a total lie. It’s true that high...

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Daniel's Latest Blogs

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Mar.07.2012 - 10:15 pm

Who Is Ellington Feint?

I got this message today from Lemony Snicket.

Oct.17.2011 - 4:52 pm

Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance

1. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you...

Feb.12.2008 - 4:48 pm

I Thought They Were Crazy

When Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman told me that they were supporting Barack Obama I thought they were crazy. I didn't know anything about him, but I knew, from growing up in...

Dec.06.2007 - 5:52 pm

Daniel Handler and Jane Smiley Talk It Over

See Jane Smiley in conversation with Daniel Handler. Smiley (Ten Days in the Hills), a Pulitzer Prize winner, is known for her literary treatment of horses, homesteads, and...

Published Reviews

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Mar.31.2009

Published by bloomberg.com

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- In Lemony Snicket’s “The Composer Is Dead,” a bumbling inspector is called to investigate a suspicious death. Could there be a murderer lurking among the...

Audio & Video

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Video: 13 WORDS

Video: Writers Remembered: Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) pays tribute to Ellen Miller

Video: Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey on The Composer is Dead

About Daniel

Daniel Handler is the author of the literary novels The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and, most recently, Adverbs. Under the name Lemony Snicket he has also written a sequence of books for children, known collectively as A Series of Unfortunate Events, which...

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Causes Daniel Handler Supports

826 Valencia

Youth Speaks