Hans Christian Andersen

He invented them himself

Over 150 tales: their simple language hides wit, melancholy and double meanings.

💡 Did you know? Unlike the Brothers Grimm, Andersen did not collect old folk tales but invented his own: a literary revolution.

her voice

The bronze figure in Copenhagen's harbour became Denmark's national emblem.

💡 Did you know? Andersen's „Little Mermaid“ ends far more sadly than the Disney film; she dies and turns to foam; her statue is a landmark of Copenhagen.

a swan

Andersen's disguised self-portrait: the mocked cobbler's son became a world star.

💡 Did you know? „The Ugly Duckling“ is seen as Andersen's hidden self-portrait: the awkward outsider who turns out to be a swan.

But he has nothing on

'The emperor's new clothes' still stands for collective self-deception.

💡 Did you know? „The Emperor's New Clothes“ gave us the saying of the child who alone speaks the uncomfortable truth.

with a pea

Only a true princess is so sensitive: 'The Princess and the Pea' became proverbial.

💡 Did you know? In „The Princess and the Pea“, the true princess feels a single pea through 20 mattresses: sensitive to the point of absurdity.

The Snow Queen

Gerda rescues her friend Kai from the ice palace: in Andersen, seven stories in one.

💡 Did you know? Disney's global hit „Frozen“ is loosely inspired by Andersen's „The Snow Queen“.

Odense

The son of a poor shoemaker: at 14 he moved alone to Copenhagen to become famous.

💡 Did you know? Andersen grew up dirt-poor in Odense: his father a cobbler, his mother a washerwoman; his rise to celebrated poet was itself like a fairy tale.

To travel is to live

Criss-crossing Europe as far as the Orient: some 30 major journeys in his lifetime.

💡 Did you know? „To travel is to live“ was Andersen's motto: he made some 30 great journeys across Europe.

Charles Dickens

Distinctly too long for his host (Dickens afterwards put up a card): Andersen slept here, 'which seemed to the family ages'.

💡 Did you know? Andersen once stayed five weeks with Charles Dickens: so long that the exasperated family never invited him again.

Jenny Lind

She saw in him only a 'brother': 'The Nightingale' is read as his poetic answer.

💡 Did you know? Andersen was unhappily in love with the „Swedish Nightingale“, the singer Jenny Lind: who fondly called him „brother“.

International Children's Book Day

The world's premier children's book award, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, also bears his name.

💡 Did you know? In Andersen's honour, his birthday on 2 April is marked worldwide as „International Children's Book Day“.

1875

Long since a world star and honorary citizen of Odense; his tales are translated into over 150 languages.

💡 Did you know? Andersen feared all his life being buried alive by mistake and often left a note by his bed reading „I am only apparently dead“.

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish writer whose own invented fairy tales, like „The Little Mermaid“, became world-famous.

💡 Did you know? The son of a cobbler, he grew up in poverty: his rise to celebrated poet was itself like a fairy tale.