Andersen, Hans Christian 1805-75
Danish writer

Born in Odense, F�nen, the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman, he had a talent for poetry, and at 14 went to Copenhagen to seek a job in the theatre. He failed, but his writing attracted the attention of influential men and, application having been made to the king, he was given place at an advanced school. In 1829 he established his reputation with 'A Walk from the Holmen Canal to the Easternmost Point of Amager', a literary satire in the form of a humorous narrative. He received a travelling pension from the king in 1833 and toured widely in Europe, writing poetry, travel books, novels and plays. In 1835 he began publishing the tiny pamphlets of fairy tales which are his greatest work (translated into English in 1846). There are more than 150 of them, including 'The Tin Soldier', 'The Emperor's New Clothes', 'The Tinderbox', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Ugly Duckling'. He also wrote an autobiography Mit Livs Eventyr (1855, rev edn 1870), translated by Mary Howitt as The True Story of My Life (1847). He is considered to be one of the world's greatest storytellers.

Bibliography: R Bain, Hans Christian Andersen: a biography (1895)