Alumna Katie Kerrigan recently met with her favorite childhood writer, Daniel Handler, the renowned novelist of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events,’ during a Virginia Commonwealth University virtual conference.

Daniel Handler uses the pen name, Lemony Snicket, in his novels where he uses a lengthy process to gather index cards to plan each detail.

“[The meeting] assured me that he truly loves what he does,” said Katie, who was thankful for the opportunity to meet virtually.

According to Katie, Daniel’s advice for young writers is to write for practice, whether it’s good or not and to do it for the experience to find their voice.

“It was very inspiring to meet with a writer who had such a large influence on my childhood,” said Katie.