Bio

Do you find that you have no trouble remembering the name Lemony Snicket, but you just can't remember his face? That's because Lemony Snicket is a pseudonym. The real name of the author of the wildly popular series A Series of Unfortunate Events is a well-kept secret.

His mysterious and humorous series focuses on the bad luck of the three Baudelaire orphans (Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny). His books are cleverly titled using alliteration: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room (Book the Second), The Wide Window (Book the Third), The Miserable Mill (Book the Fourth) — notice the pattern? And yes there are more books on the way. Fans of happy endings will not find “and they lived happily ever after” written on the last page of his stories. But Snicket warns his readers, “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. Not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning, and very few happy things in the middle.” Snicket's writing has often been compared to Roald Dahl, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, and Edward Gorey.

Though his Web site (http://www.lemonysnicket.com/) declares, “Lemony Snicket was born before you were, and is likely to die before you as well. His family has roots in a part of the country which is now under water, and his childhood was spent in the relative splendor of the Snicket Villa, which has since become a factory, a fortress and a pharmacy and is now, alas, someone else's villa.” His true birthplace and details about his family remain a mystery.

For those who are determined to try to contact the author via e-mail, two words of advice: “Good luck.” You may receive an automated Out of Office message from the “Online Librarians Against Fearsomeness,” which includes a good-natured scolding: “The fact that you have e-mailed Mr. Snicket at all indicates that you may have read his books, which in turn indicates that you are undoubtedly depressed, disturbed, and/or reading above your age level. A reply would only make these problems worse. . . . . One day you'll thank us.”

Considering sales of A Series of Unfortunate Events have reached over a million copies — looks like his fans are already thanking him.