Hans Christian Andersen
Fairy Tale
The Ugly Duckling and
Other Andersen Fairy Tales

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish writer, famous for fairy tales such as The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Queen.

Towards the end, he stated there was no need for an autobiography as he had already written The Ugly Duckling.

He was born in April 2, 1805 and his fairy tales have been translated worldwide and into more than a hundred languages.

He was born in Odense, Denmark and there, as also in other parts of Scandinavia, they just refer to him as Hans Christian Andersen.

Thought to be of nobility by his farther, apparently the Andersen family did have some connection to Danish Royalty, but it's only believed to be work-related.

In his youth, he was passionate towards literature, and he was able to memorize plays and act out the puppets in his toy-theatre.

Plays of writers such as William Shakespeare and Ludvig Holberg.

His father died  in 1816 and he took on some jobs early in age but later he moved to Copenhagen and was successful in his admission to the Royal Danish Theatre as a soprano.

After his voice broke, he took his writing quite seriously when a colleague thought of him as a poet.

By accident, Jonas Collins took interest in Andersen and eventually payed for all his schooling expenses.

However, these were, as he stated, the most bitter and darker years of his life living under a schoolmaster's roof and being discouraged to write.

But before he went to grammar school, in Slagelse 1822 and later Elsinore, he had already published his first story.

In 1835, he published his first volume of Fairy Tales but they sold badly and they weren't recognized for their brilliance.

But he had also written novels at the time and was able to enjoy success, O.T. from 1836 and Only a Fiddler in 1837.

Andersen liked to travel and also continued to publish works as a dramatist and novelist but didn't succeed so well as his other continuous writings and additions to fairy tales.

He died August 4, 1875 and, even towards the end of his lifetime, he was already known internationally and recognized as a 'national treasure' by the Danish Government.

He contributed enormously to children's fantasy and joy with stories such as The Little Mermaid, The Princess and The Pea, The Snow Queen, The Tinder Box, and Thumbelina, just to mention a few.

He left a legacy of stories that nowadays can be seen in many different influences and even in cultural expressions.

Currently, we celebrate his birthday as the International Children's Book Day.

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