Handler an haife shi ne a San Francisco, California, ɗan Sandra Handler (née Walpole) wanda ya yi ritaya a Kwalejin City na San Francisco Dean, da kuma Louis Handler, wani mai lissafi. Mahaifinsa ya kasance dan gudun hijirar Yahudawa daga Jamus, kuma yana da dangantaka da marubucin Birtaniya Hugh Walpole ta hanyar mahaifiyarsa. Yana da 'yar'uwa, Rebecca Handler. Handler ya kasance mai karatu mai ban sha'awa tun lokacin yaro, kuma marubucin da ya fi so shi ne William Keepers Maxwell, Jr. Ya halarci Commodore Sloat Elementary, Herbert Hoover Middle School, da Lowell High School. Ya kammala karatu daga Jami'ar Wesleyan a shekarar 1992. An ba shi kyautar kyautar mawallafin ɗaliban Connecticut na 1992, wanda ya yi ikirarin cewa ya samu ta hanyar yaudarar Elizabeth Bishop.
mai ba da lissafi