Hans Christian Andersen (1805 1875) was a Danish writer and poet known today especialiy for his short stories and Fairy Tales.As a young man he started writing rhe stories he heard as a child slowly developing me characteristic dark humour and surprising twists and turns of his most famous works. Andersen wrote many foiry tales and took the genre to a whole new level of maturity and importance broadening the appeal of this kind of literature and taking it beyond the confines of age and nationality.