Hello, I’m Willie Handler.

Thanks for dropping by my blog. I’m not using a pseudonym (yes, people have asked if it’s a real name). I live in a classic bedroom community with streets and streets of identical homes just outside of Toronto, Canada. Just picture the fictional town of Agrestic, California, from the TV show Weeds.

Throughout my work career, I’ve reinvented myself on several occasions. I’ve been a hospital administrator, a government policy wonk, an insurance expert, and a consultant.

Then I decided I wanted to write humour. 

Why humour? Humour is in my DNA. It’s part of who I am. When I was young, I actually wanted to be a comedy writer. But not being a risk taker, I went to grad school instead. I’m not one of those people who was an author at 11 and has always wanted to be a writer. I was reading at 4 but never thought about writing until recently.

Since retiring from the Ontario public service, I have published three fiction novels and twelve journal articles in Canadian Underwriter over the past few years. I’m a member of the Canadian Authors Association, the Writing Community of York Region, the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and the Stephen Leacock Association.

Both my parents are Holocaust survivors. In 2020, while struggling with the effects of the pandemic lockdown, I decided I needed to know what happened to them during WWII. Thus began a journey into my family’s past, eventually revealing their extraordinary survival and painful losses. Their story and my memoir will be published late in 2024, Out Form the Shadows: Growing Up With Holocaust Survivor Parents.

I am active in the Holocaust second-generation and third-generation survivor community, where I’ve attended educational programs, commemorative events, and group discussions. I’m also a volunteer at the Toronto Holocaust Museum, where I assist visitors as they make their way through the exhibits. I have also spoken online and at in-person events on the Holocaust.