Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, in 1805. He endured a lonely, impoverished childhood consoled by little more than his own imagination. He escaped to a theatre life in Copenhagen aged fourteen, where the support of a powerful patron enabled him to complete his scant education, and to write. His poetry, novels and travel books became hugely popular. ... Read moreBut it was his Fairy Tales, the first children's stories of their kind, published in instalments from 1835 until his death in 1875, that have immortalized him. Translated into more than a hundred languages and adapted for every kind of media, they have made Andersen the most important children's writer in history. Show Less