Article(s) on Goldfish Ghost, Handler tour dates.
May 2, 2017 9:23:05 GMT -5
Teleram and gliquey like this
Post by Dante on May 2, 2017 9:23:05 GMT -5
Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown's Goldfish Ghost tour dates are as follows, from here:
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All credit to the Seattle Times for the following article:
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‘Lemony Snicket’ back in Seattle with a tale of loss, love — and goldfish
Originally published May 1, 2017 at 6:00 am
The author also known as Daniel Handler will talk about his latest children’s book, “Goldfish Ghost,” along with his wife who illustrated it, Lisa Brown, at University Book Store in Seattle.
By Nicole Brodeur
Seattle Times staff reporter
The last time Daniel Handler was in Seattle, he found a seat in the children’s section of the Central Library and started writing.
The librarian approached and asked him to leave.
“It was because I didn’t have a child with me,” Handler remembered. “I was just sitting, hunched over a legal pad. I was just kind of surprised.”
He complied, but not before leaving a business card on the librarian’s desk. “Thank you for the use of the hall.” The name on it: Lemony Snicket.
Indeed, the man whose “A Series of Unfortunate Events” series has sold more than 50 million copies was booted from the same room where his books never get to sit for very long, either. Which makes a weird kind of sense.
Handler will return to Seattle on Tuesday, this time with his wife, the illustrator Lisa Brown, to promote their new children’s book, “Goldfish Ghost.” (Brown also illustrated Marcus Ewert’s “Mummy Cat,” which won the Washington State Children’s Book Award this year.)
“Goldfish Ghost” is a pretty self-explanatory title. A goldfish is “born on the surface of the water in a bowl in the dresser in a boy’s room.” He sets off in search of company, letting the breeze carry him over the pier, the center and the beach of a seaside town before finding the perfect home with the perfect friend.
The story was inspired by their son, Otto, now 13, and his own personal series of unfortunate events: the death of one goldfish after another.
“The part that he loved best of all is, when they died, he got to have little burials and funerals,” Brown said during a conference call with her husband the other day.
Added Handler: “Everyone loves a funeral.”
The family buried each in the backyard, tucked into a jewelry box — something their son now refers to as “a goldfish coffin.”
“It’s kind of nice to think that if he ever proposes to someone, he will say, ‘Please, open this goldfish coffin,’ ” Handler said. “It’s probably the best way to see if someone is suited for you.”
The book isn’t really about the loss of a pet, Brown said, but the goldfish itself, and his search for companionship.
“It can be hard to find the company you are looking for,” Handler writes, a line that sinks like an anchor in a reader’s heart.
Handler and Brown found each other in a Chaucer class at Wesleyan University.
“Daniel didn’t like the class, and I liked the class, and then we had an epiphany that we were meant to be together,” Brown said.
“You left out the dramatic part of how we met,” he said.
“I was being kind,” she said.
He had a seizure in class one day, he explained, and passed out in her lap.
“When I woke from the seizure, we were forced into having a conversation,” he said. “That forced us to socialize.”
And that was that.
Brown, who also teaches a class on picture books at the California College of the Arts, wanted the book to look friendly, despite its quiet sadness.
“It is about death and loneliness and I wanted to mitigate that by having a warm and friendly feeling,” she said of her illustrations. “I wanted children to understand that this isn’t a sad story. It’s a wistful story.”
She thinks children can handle a lot more darkness than we give them credit for.
“The wonderful thing about picture books is that you have the illustrations to help them understand what is going on,” she said, “and there is an adult there helping them along. But it’s always kid by kid.”
Handler is often asked what is the “proper age” for his macabre series.
“I always think it’s not actually about the age but about whether a certain kind of irony has appeared in the brain,” he said. “So if you look at the back of a Lemony Snicket book that says, ‘Don’t read this thing — it’s really dreadful,’ and you understand that there is something at play there, then you’re old enough to start thinking about those things.”
Handler, an accomplished accordion player, is known for bringing more than books to his readings.
“We will say that we have purchased not one, but two goldfish bowls that can withstand travel,” he said. “So the reading will feature death, loneliness and a portable fishbowl.”
But no solo visits to the Central Library. You understand why.
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And to Romper for the below:
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Why Lemony Snicket & Lisa Brown Don't Shy Away From Darkness In Their Children's Book
By Leah Carton 14 hours ago
I've always been drawn to books and poetry that delve into "taboo" topics. Even as a child, the stories that didn't always have a happy ending were the ones that caught my attention. So, it doesn't come as a surprise when I say that I was intrigued by the works of bestselling author Lemony Snicket, a.k.a. Daniel Handler. Together with his award-winning illustrator wife Lisa Brown, the two have been immersing readers in an imaginative world for years. And, during this time, Handler and Brown have never shied away from dark topics.
The couple has worked together for years, and their collaborations curate story lines and illustrations that are enjoyed by readers of all ages. But more important than pleasing their fan following is pleasing each other.
"Most of our creative process involves lying around cracking each other up," Handler says in an interview with Romper. "So I would say in any given week, we spend two or three nights, say on the sofa, laughing at something only the two of us would find funny."
At times, ideas for the title of a book or Brown's illustrations happen before a story line does. Inspiration strikes the couple at any given moment, like before drifting off to sleep or during a night out to dinner, which was the case for Goldfish Ghost.
"The title Goldfish Ghost for our last book, it was me saying 'goldfish ghost,' and Daniel saying 'OK, I'll go,' and he'll write it," Brown says. Handler adds that Brown, "drew a couple of fish floating around upside down, which immediately seems clear to me in terms of a story."
Why dead goldfish? Well, the idea came from the couple's son Otto's untimely experiences with pet goldfish and the time the family has spent in Cape Cod, Mass.
"The only pet we allowed him to have for a very long time was a series of, really like, immediately expiring goldfish," Brown says. "It never bothered him 'cause the ceremony of burying them in the yard was just as exciting as having a pet."
This isn't the first time the duo has tackled a difficult, somewhat dark topic. Handler and Brown often address themes such as death and loneliness in their work, as evident through Handler's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which has been adapted into a movie and a Netflix original series.
"It's hard to think of a story that's interesting that doesn't have at least a hint of something terrible happening, right," Handler says. "It's usually at least a possibility that something terrible will happen even in the most supposedly harmless of stories."
In Goldfish Ghost specifically, Handler says that the theme of loneliness is something that may be more daring than death and explains that even though the book begins with death, it's not focused on it.
Brown explains that she finds ways to contrast her illustrations from a sometimes darker story line. "Even with Goldfish Ghost, my illustrations sort of temper the feeling," she says. "I think they temper the feeling of loneliness and death because the illustrations are not dark,." She adds that illustrations in children's books are a way of "hand holding" with the text.
Handler and Brown emphasize that they want their books, including Goldfish Ghost, to appeal and engage both adults and children.
In her illustrations, Brown puts "Easter eggs" where she hides different call outs to adults that kids wouldn't necessarily understand so that families can read the same book on two different levels. Handler agrees and says, "I think you want a book to be for everybody."
You can pick up a copy of their newest book for your family and meet Handler and Brown on their book tour promoting the release of Goldfish Ghost starting on May 2.
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| Date | Time | Location | City, State | Details |
| May 2, 2017 | 7PM | University Temple United Methodist Church | Seattle, WA | Lemony Snicket & Lisa Brown |
| May 3, 2017 | 6PM | Norman Murray Community Center | Mission Viejo, CA | Lemony Snicket & Lisa Brown |
| May 4, 2017 | 6PM | BookPeople | Austin, TX | Lemony Snicket & Lisa Brown |
| May 7, 2017 | 11:30AM | WORD Bookstore | Brooklyn, NY | Lisa Brown |
| May 8, 2017 | 9AM | Barnes & Noble at MarketFair | Princeton, NJ | Lisa Brown |
| May 11, 2017 | 6:30PM | St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch | St. Louis, MO | Lisa Brown |
| May 13, 2017 | 11AM | The Rabbit Hole | Kansas City, MO | Lemony Snicket & Lisa Brown |
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All credit to the Seattle Times for the following article:
---
‘Lemony Snicket’ back in Seattle with a tale of loss, love — and goldfish
Originally published May 1, 2017 at 6:00 am
The author also known as Daniel Handler will talk about his latest children’s book, “Goldfish Ghost,” along with his wife who illustrated it, Lisa Brown, at University Book Store in Seattle.
By Nicole Brodeur
Seattle Times staff reporter
The last time Daniel Handler was in Seattle, he found a seat in the children’s section of the Central Library and started writing.
The librarian approached and asked him to leave.
“It was because I didn’t have a child with me,” Handler remembered. “I was just sitting, hunched over a legal pad. I was just kind of surprised.”
He complied, but not before leaving a business card on the librarian’s desk. “Thank you for the use of the hall.” The name on it: Lemony Snicket.
Indeed, the man whose “A Series of Unfortunate Events” series has sold more than 50 million copies was booted from the same room where his books never get to sit for very long, either. Which makes a weird kind of sense.
Handler will return to Seattle on Tuesday, this time with his wife, the illustrator Lisa Brown, to promote their new children’s book, “Goldfish Ghost.” (Brown also illustrated Marcus Ewert’s “Mummy Cat,” which won the Washington State Children’s Book Award this year.)
“Goldfish Ghost” is a pretty self-explanatory title. A goldfish is “born on the surface of the water in a bowl in the dresser in a boy’s room.” He sets off in search of company, letting the breeze carry him over the pier, the center and the beach of a seaside town before finding the perfect home with the perfect friend.
The story was inspired by their son, Otto, now 13, and his own personal series of unfortunate events: the death of one goldfish after another.
“The part that he loved best of all is, when they died, he got to have little burials and funerals,” Brown said during a conference call with her husband the other day.
Added Handler: “Everyone loves a funeral.”
The family buried each in the backyard, tucked into a jewelry box — something their son now refers to as “a goldfish coffin.”
“It’s kind of nice to think that if he ever proposes to someone, he will say, ‘Please, open this goldfish coffin,’ ” Handler said. “It’s probably the best way to see if someone is suited for you.”
The book isn’t really about the loss of a pet, Brown said, but the goldfish itself, and his search for companionship.
“It can be hard to find the company you are looking for,” Handler writes, a line that sinks like an anchor in a reader’s heart.
Handler and Brown found each other in a Chaucer class at Wesleyan University.
“Daniel didn’t like the class, and I liked the class, and then we had an epiphany that we were meant to be together,” Brown said.
“You left out the dramatic part of how we met,” he said.
“I was being kind,” she said.
He had a seizure in class one day, he explained, and passed out in her lap.
“When I woke from the seizure, we were forced into having a conversation,” he said. “That forced us to socialize.”
And that was that.
Brown, who also teaches a class on picture books at the California College of the Arts, wanted the book to look friendly, despite its quiet sadness.
“It is about death and loneliness and I wanted to mitigate that by having a warm and friendly feeling,” she said of her illustrations. “I wanted children to understand that this isn’t a sad story. It’s a wistful story.”
She thinks children can handle a lot more darkness than we give them credit for.
“The wonderful thing about picture books is that you have the illustrations to help them understand what is going on,” she said, “and there is an adult there helping them along. But it’s always kid by kid.”
Handler is often asked what is the “proper age” for his macabre series.
“I always think it’s not actually about the age but about whether a certain kind of irony has appeared in the brain,” he said. “So if you look at the back of a Lemony Snicket book that says, ‘Don’t read this thing — it’s really dreadful,’ and you understand that there is something at play there, then you’re old enough to start thinking about those things.”
Handler, an accomplished accordion player, is known for bringing more than books to his readings.
“We will say that we have purchased not one, but two goldfish bowls that can withstand travel,” he said. “So the reading will feature death, loneliness and a portable fishbowl.”
But no solo visits to the Central Library. You understand why.
---
And to Romper for the below:
---
Why Lemony Snicket & Lisa Brown Don't Shy Away From Darkness In Their Children's Book
By Leah Carton 14 hours ago
I've always been drawn to books and poetry that delve into "taboo" topics. Even as a child, the stories that didn't always have a happy ending were the ones that caught my attention. So, it doesn't come as a surprise when I say that I was intrigued by the works of bestselling author Lemony Snicket, a.k.a. Daniel Handler. Together with his award-winning illustrator wife Lisa Brown, the two have been immersing readers in an imaginative world for years. And, during this time, Handler and Brown have never shied away from dark topics.
The couple has worked together for years, and their collaborations curate story lines and illustrations that are enjoyed by readers of all ages. But more important than pleasing their fan following is pleasing each other.
"Most of our creative process involves lying around cracking each other up," Handler says in an interview with Romper. "So I would say in any given week, we spend two or three nights, say on the sofa, laughing at something only the two of us would find funny."
At times, ideas for the title of a book or Brown's illustrations happen before a story line does. Inspiration strikes the couple at any given moment, like before drifting off to sleep or during a night out to dinner, which was the case for Goldfish Ghost.
"The title Goldfish Ghost for our last book, it was me saying 'goldfish ghost,' and Daniel saying 'OK, I'll go,' and he'll write it," Brown says. Handler adds that Brown, "drew a couple of fish floating around upside down, which immediately seems clear to me in terms of a story."
Why dead goldfish? Well, the idea came from the couple's son Otto's untimely experiences with pet goldfish and the time the family has spent in Cape Cod, Mass.
"The only pet we allowed him to have for a very long time was a series of, really like, immediately expiring goldfish," Brown says. "It never bothered him 'cause the ceremony of burying them in the yard was just as exciting as having a pet."
This isn't the first time the duo has tackled a difficult, somewhat dark topic. Handler and Brown often address themes such as death and loneliness in their work, as evident through Handler's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which has been adapted into a movie and a Netflix original series.
"It's hard to think of a story that's interesting that doesn't have at least a hint of something terrible happening, right," Handler says. "It's usually at least a possibility that something terrible will happen even in the most supposedly harmless of stories."
In Goldfish Ghost specifically, Handler says that the theme of loneliness is something that may be more daring than death and explains that even though the book begins with death, it's not focused on it.
Brown explains that she finds ways to contrast her illustrations from a sometimes darker story line. "Even with Goldfish Ghost, my illustrations sort of temper the feeling," she says. "I think they temper the feeling of loneliness and death because the illustrations are not dark,." She adds that illustrations in children's books are a way of "hand holding" with the text.
Handler and Brown emphasize that they want their books, including Goldfish Ghost, to appeal and engage both adults and children.
In her illustrations, Brown puts "Easter eggs" where she hides different call outs to adults that kids wouldn't necessarily understand so that families can read the same book on two different levels. Handler agrees and says, "I think you want a book to be for everybody."
You can pick up a copy of their newest book for your family and meet Handler and Brown on their book tour promoting the release of Goldfish Ghost starting on May 2.
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