Hans Christian Andersen

Danish writer of fairy-tale stories, plays, novels, poems and travel books. His fables are translated into more languages than any other books, outside of the Bible. Andersen is chiefly remembered for "The Ugly Duckling," "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Red Shoes." His only and consuming ambition was to become a writer held in esteem. Working towards that goal, he wrote prolifically and with versatility. It was his fairy tales, his "trifles," as he called them, that brought him world-wide recognition. Altogether, he wrote 156 tales which have been translated into more than a hundred languages. He also wrote three autobiographies. Andersen was perhaps better known than any other living writer, an international celebrity found in the company of his peers, and his work has been widely read ever since.

His life was not that idyllic. In his family history, his dad, a cobbler, went insane and died when Hans was 11. His paternal grandmother was a pathological liar who had, in her youth, been jailed for repeatedly producing illegitimate children and her husband had a reputation as the town lunatic. One of his aunts apparently ran a brothel. He grew up in a one-room house in the slum area of Odense, usually playing by himself with puppets. The boy had few friends and spent much of his time alone with his homemade toys. As an adult, he was not particularly fond of children. He grew into an odd figure with huge feet and small blue eyes, a tall, delicate man, long and bony with a cadaverous face. With arms and legs disproportionately large for his body, he attracted nicknames that were descriptive, such as "stork" and "lamp post."

To make money for the family, as a youth, Andersen worked in a cloth factory where he was often embarrassed by the workmen's bawdy humor. Gifted with a fine soprano voice, he loved to sing, that is, until the day at work when his co-workers pulled off his pants to see if he was a girl.