Lemony Snicket is the legal nom de plume of American novelist Daniel Handler, born February 28, 1970. Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events (his best known work) and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, Lemony Snicket is both a fictional character and a real person.

Handler was born in San Francisco, California. He attended Commodore Sloat Elementary, Herbert Hoover Middle School, and Lowell High School. Handler graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992. He is an alumnus of the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

Handler is married to Lisa Brown, a graphic artist that he met in college. They have a son, Otto, who was born around Halloween 2003. They live in an old Victorian house in San Francisco. Handler's mother is retired City College of San Francisco Dean, Sandra Handler, and his father, Louis Handler, is an accountant. He also has a younger sister, Rebecca Handler.

Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler. Handler has published various children's books under the name, including A Series of Unfortunate Events, which has sold over 60 million copies and spawned a 2004 film and Netflix TV series from 2017 to 2019 of the same name. Snicket also serves as the in-universe author who investigates and re-tells the story of the Baudelaire orphans in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Snicket is also the subject of a fictional autobiography titled Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography. Further telling of Snicket's adventures can be found in the four-part children's series All the Wrong Questions, as well as a pamphlet titled 13 Shocking Secrets You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket (released in promotion of The End). Other works by Snicket include The Baby in the Manger, The Composer Is Dead, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, The Lump of Coal, and 13 Words.

In the 2004 film, Lemony Snicket is voiced by Jude Law while James Henderson plays him physically, who documents the events of the film on a typewriter from inside a clock tower. In the video game based on the film, his voice is provided by Tim Curry. In the Netflix series, Snicket is interpreted as a mysterious and omniscient narrator chronicling the events of the Baudelaire children, and is portrayed by Patrick Warburton.